A box full of Buttons

Well, that has been hard work. At least my feet aren't hurting quite as much but I'm shattered. Thank goodness I can have a bit of a lie in.
My card tonight has been made for my Magic Stamp class at Davina's tomorrow.

I love Magic stamps they are so much fun and you can make the most fabulous backgrounds.

The central panel on this card has been made by pressing the heated 'Magic Stamp' into a box full of assorted buttons.
I have searched my crafty stash for all sorts of things to play with in class tomorrow. Leaves are always good  to press the magic stamp onto so I will have to look out for some tomorrow before I leave.
Have a great weekend.
Hugs Kimx

Just for You Grandpa

Wow that sure was a shock to the system. Back to real work and standing on my feet for 8 hours!!
To cap it all I have a new pair of work boots to break in, steel toe caps no less, and one of them has been badly finished off inside. Of course I didn't notice this until I was already at work and in agony lol. Thank goodness it is going to be a very short week.

My card tonight was made for my old Boss who has just become a Grandad for the first time.

The pre-coloured image is from one of the new Lili of the Valley Art Pads  that I bought at the NEC.

I added a little Stardust pen to the image and matched it to papers from my stash, I also added a tiny silver charm which I bought while I was at SirStampalot.

The sentiments are a combination of Inky Antics and Hobby Art.
I'm not sure what my friend is going to be called, perhaps GRUMPS would be appropriate, but I thought that Grandpa might give him a laugh.
Hugs Kimx

Add a bit of Glitter and Sparkle

Evening Everyone
I hope that you have had a good day. Back to normal for me tomorrow I'm afraid. Thank goodness it is going to be a very short week!!
A consequence of two days of Make and Take at the NEC is a rather large stash of sparkly background papers, so I thought that I would try one of them out with a bit of stamping and embossing.

It also just happens that the challenge over at the Imagination Craft Challenge blog is Glitter and Sparkle, so I thought that I would enter it there, although unfortunately the sparkle doesn't show up very well in the pictures.

The background paper has been created using Diamond Sparkle Medium, white card and a brayer.
I stamped and embossed the leaves onto a piece of watercolour card stock and coloured them using the Vintage Pearly Palette, before cutting them out and sticking them onto the background panel.

The green card has been dry embossed and then a little Gold Gilding Wax has been added.
Why not check out the challenge, there is a fabulous prize to be won.
hugs Kimx

Magic Stamp Leaves

Evening All
I seriously have sooooo much to do before I go back to work on Thursday that it really isn't funny.
On top of everything else I also have a class on the Magic Stamp to prep for Saturday.
So here is a card that I made at SirStampalot using this fabulous product.

Once again the central panel has been created using the magic stamp and some skeleton leaves.
I also embossed one of the leaves with Frantage powders.
Hope they like it.
Hugs Kimx

Paper Piecing at Crafty Cardmakers.

Oops, I've done it again. I managed to make it right through to the 9th November this time, sharing a post with you every day, before I failed due to my very late journey back from the NEC.
I had to go back to Peterboro after the show, to pick up all the rest of my crafty stash and await the arrival of my lovely daughter, before continuing on to Surrey.
I suppose that will teach me that I really must get myself sorted with scheduled posts!!
Any how, today sees the start of a new challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers, where Viv has chosen the theme of Paper Piecing.
I got a little carried away and made a set of four cards during my Metal and Burlap class, when I was at Janice and Andy's .

I showed the class how to make a quick and easy background using a 6x6 paper pad, and then used a lovely Whippersnapper stamp, Bazzil card stock and bleach as the basis for the Paper pieced panels.

I stamped the image onto three different but co-ordinating papers and also some metal foil as well as a piece of dark orange bazzil card.

I painted some of the images on each card using bleach which has taken out most of the colour.

I also cut out the flowers and heart and the pieced the images back together after first shaping them using a ball tool.

That were added using silicon to give added dimension.
I hope that you get the chance to join us during the next fortnight. Our prizes have been provided by SATURATED CANARY and WOODWARE CRAFT COLLECTION.
Hugs Kimx

I Survived my First Day

Evening Everyone,
Well I have survived my first day of Make and Takes using the stencil paste from Imagination, and I have to say that it has been great fun.
We have been using it to create sparkly background paper and then stencilling over the top, but my mind has been working on stamping, embossing and colouring onto it, so watch this space as they say.
As I don't have any of my crafty stash with me they will have to stay as ideas in my head for now so my card tonight is from the Metal and Burlap class that I did at SirStampalot on Thursday evening.

The class used the same card idea as I made for the Woodware Retailers workshops, only this time I used Distress Inks and white embossing powder to create the background on the card.

The flowers are from Francoise Tall Vase stamp and have been stamped onto the Burlap panel as well as the metal sheet. I stamped and embossed the image onto the metal and then coloured them in using Copic pens.
I also used some of the burlap threads to create a knot on the flower stems.

The tiny embellishments (sorry about the picture quality) are stamped and cut from some of the scrap pieces.
I have had another fabulous meal in good company and am now heading back to my room to cut up card stock for tomorrows demo. The stencils are all washed and ready and I am now the proud possessor of a very sparkly bath lol.
Have a good evening
Hugs Kimx

Staying at the Hilton no less

Evening Everyone,
Well here I am in Birmingham, in the Hilton Hotel no less after a bit of a trek from Peterboro.
Birmingham New Street station has obviously never heard of lifts or even escalators that go both ways to and from a platform, and there was absolutely no one around to ask.
I carried my suitcase (not a small one you understand) up and down 5 flights of stairs before I finally managed to find a train to Birmingham International that hadn‘t already left the station.. And then of course there was what seems like a 3 mile hike to the right Hall at the NEC once you get off the train. Still at least I didn’t have to go out in the rain.
I managed to meet up with the Girls from SirStampalot Crafty Lou, Chris, Mandy and Louise who had come to the show for the day. We had a fab time looking round and shopping for England of course.
And now I have just finished a very nice dinner in the restaurant and am sitting in the lobby trying to blog.
I’m sure that I will earn my supper tomorrow if it is anything like as busy on the stand as it was today.
Better get an early night and rest my poor feet.
hugs Kimx

It is never a mistake!!

Evening Everyone,
Another fabulous evening class at SirStampalot with a great bunch of ladies. There is definitely no better way to finish a holiday.
I'm off to the NEC tomorrow so I have been busy packing away all of my crafty stash.
My card tonight would certainly do my friend Julie Hickey proud. She taught me a long time ago that there is never a mistake in crafting, it is always an opportunity, and this is definitely one of those.

As crafters we never like to waste anything do we and so when my fabulous new Hero Arts background stamp missed the middle on both sides of the card stock I was loathe to throw it away so I got creative.

A stamped and embossed sentiment cut out using a Nestie covered up the bad stamping in the middle of the panel,

and some strategically places leaves and a bow covered up the corner.

The stamped image has been dusted with Pearlex powders and I added some Faux Stitching and some Hobby House Pearl brads.
I will have to redo the photos tomorrow I think as the images look rather grey here. I shall put that on my to do list while I am tiding up tomorrow.
Hugs Kimx

A Purple Poinsettia

Evening Everyone,
Amazingly we have managed to get a reasonably early night away from the unit. It was the promise of a Chinese meal that did it lol.
I have been busy prepping for tomorrows Metal and Burlap class as well as finishing off some of the bits and pieces that I have been playing with in the shop.

Tonight's card has been made using one of the elements from a fabulous Magenta Christmas Cling stamp set.

I stamped and embossed the image onto watercolour card and then painted it using the Pearlex Vintage Watercolour Palette. As the name suggests the colours all have a Sepia undertone to give them a very Vintage look.

The piece of purple card in the background has been dry embossed using an Embossing folder and then some Metallic Rub-ons and Platinum Glitter glue have been added.
I can't believe that tomorrow will be my last full day with Janice and Andy, I had better make the most of it.
I will be travelling to the NEC on Friday to do the Make and Takes on the Imagination stand over the weekend.
Of course I can't go to the show without a little look around now can I?
Wow this is an early night for me, I think I will make the most of it so I'm off to bed.
Night, night.
hugs Kimx

A Big Thank You to Kay

Evening Everyone.
As I have mentioned before, when I stay at Janice and Andy's I am unable to wash my hair as they have no shower in their bathroom.
This is where the wonderful Kay comes to my aid with my 'Shower Voucher'.
Door to door collection and delivery to her house and use of her bathroom. It's fabulous.
So this is for Kay, I left it for her to find when we left the house, I hope she likes it.
Thank You Kay, it is very much appreciated.
Hugs Kimx

Cinnabun or Sycamore

Evening Everyone,
Now I realise that this is a rather tenuous connection, and a little bit of a private joke but I wrote this post earlier whilst consuming half of the most enormous, and delicious chocolate cinnabun.

Nick, who works with Janice and Andy visited Cambridge at the weekend where there is this shop devoted to Cinnabuns and he bought some home for us.
I dread to think how many calories there are in one, but boy was it nice lol.
Still enough about food, on to the card for this evening.

Janice usually has some sort of challenge waiting in a box for me when I stay with them, and this time it was some skeleton leaves.

I used them to create the central stamped panel on the card by pressing onto them with a heated Magic stamp. This then becomes the stamp which I inked up with pigment inks. Once again I used my new Movers and Shapers leaf dies and a tiny Woodware punch.

The tree names are from a Woodware clear stamp set designed by Jane Gill which I cut out and mounted using rectangular and deckle edged Nesties.
I am teaching a class tomorrow evening so I have been doing some last minute class prep. Yes I know, it's always last minute with me, but at least it means that I can be current with what is in stock. That's my excuse anyway lol.
Do you think I will work off any of that cinnabun in my sleep? I think I had better try.
Night night.

Hugs Kimx

Poem Tree

Evening Everyone
I hope that you have all had a wonderfully relaxing weekend.
We got our lie in this morning, some of us for longer than others (Andy and Janice), so we have had a fairly laid back time at the unit getting some tidying and sorting done. Well at least Janice has, I have been playing. I'm on holiday remember!

This is one of the cards that I finished today. I'm not sure that I like it as it looks here, but it looks so much better in the flesh!!

I have used the foliage part of the Stampendous Poem Tree to stamp around the edge of some lovely background paper that I found in the shop. I meant to write down all of the codes so that I could tell you what I used, but they are at work, and I am sitting in bed writing this so that didn't work did it??

The leaves are cut using my newly acquired dies. They are actually Sizzex Movers and Shapers dies designed to go inside one of the larger cutting dies, but they went through the Cuttlebug perfectly using 2 C plates as the sandwich.

The leaves have been cut from papers I found in the shop, and layered over the stamped and embossed panel. Did I say I wasn't going to buy any more papers? Well I lied lol.

We will be using this fabulous stamp in class on Tuesday evening, so I'm sure that you will be seeing more of it over the next couple of days.
Oh dear, look at the time and no lie in tomorrow, so I had better get some sleep.
Catch you again tomorrow.
Night night.
Hugs Kimx

Springtime in Paris or Autumn in Peterboro

Evening Everyone,
I hope that you are having a good weekend, I am, playing in my usual spot here at SirStampalot.

This is actually comparatively tidy for me.

You should have seen it earlier when I was in the middle of my demo, stuff everywhere. A tidy crafter I am not lol.

One of the great things about being here, apart from all the fabulous products, is being able to finish things off with just the right colour card or embellishment. Of course it doesn't do wonders for the bank balance, but it is my holiday, so what the he...

This week the fabulous team at Woodware have been challenging and inspiring you with the theme of Travel.

I popped a couple of stamps into my box when I packed for my holiday so that I could join in the challenge as I hadn't had the chance to get anything made before I left.

Now I suspect that this would have been a completely different card had I made it at home, but as I said this is one of the many advantages to being at the shop I can match my stamped, embossed and coloured image to some of the fabulous papers in the shop in a few moments, instead of having to spend ages going through my paper stash at home.

The stamp of Paris is by Stampendous as is the matching flower that I have used in the background.
The background flowers have been embossed using Frantage powder although it is hard to see in the pictures.

I found some fantastic Marianne travel charms and Hobby House Pearl Brads amongst all of the other goodies in the shop.

The central stamped panel has been coloured using the Pearlex Vintage Palette and the 'Wet Watercolour Technique' which I have been playing with again today.
We are hoping to get a bit of a lie in tomorrow, so I had better remember to turn off my alarm!!
Hey I might even get to see Barbara on the box, and then its in to work for more playtime, what a hard life lol.
Hugs Kimx

Holiday Time starts now

Hi All
Well my holiday has really started. I am finally back here in Peterboro after a dreadful journey.
My lovely daughter Becki drove me up here so that I could bring all my crafty 'stuff' with me, but having spent four hours on the road getting here she has text to say that the traffic is just as bad going home.
In fact it seems that we got here just in time as she has driven past a 10 mile tailback on the M11 after an accident just outside Peterboro.
I hope that Barbara has a better journey than us or she might be late for her TV appearance tomorrow.
Off to bed now, travelling is soooooo tiring.
Hugs Kimx

Happy Halloween

Hi All
Happy Halloween to you all. I hope that you are having a good day.
Our house is looking particularly spooky and the kids will be getting ready to go trick or treating later today once it gets dark.

This is a card that I made a little while ago for a friend to give to her son for his 60th birthday, which happens to be today.

My lovely Penny Black Halloween Cat was perfect for this card I thought.
I made a bit of leafy background using Distress Inks and stamps available from Woodware.

I wrapped the panel with Bakers Twine and mounted it over some handmade background papers from my bits box. The greeting is by Lili of the Valley and Trev and 60 have been stamped using an Art Deco set that I bought ages ago.

My friend needed the card early so that it could go in the post but I thought that it would be perfect to share with you today.
I'm hoping that Blogger has played the game and that this has gone live OK. I will have to get Sylvie to check it out for me. I have managed to blog every day so far this year so it would be really annoying if I fell in the home stretch.
Have a good evening. I will probably get very little done as I will have to be in charge of the treats when the door bell rings.
Hugs Kimx

Having a Kick About

Hi All
Still no Internet I'm afraid so I have come to bother Sylvie again.
I am going to try and schedule a post for tomorrow so that I don't have to impose again. On Friday I will be back at SirStampalot  for my crafty holiday so that will be me sorted and hopefully by the time I get back home it will all be fixed.

This is a card that I made for a little boy's birthday using one of the lovely Lili of the Valley topper.
How appropriate that we are sitting watching the tape of Lili of the Valley on the box from last week lol

I have used up some scraps of patchwork background and die cut grass.
Have a good evening, I'm off to write my post for tomorrow.
hugs Kimx