Happy For You

Evening All,

My daughter recently asked me to make a card for a neighbour who had found out that she is expecting again. So while I was playing with the fabulous new Sue Wilson Big Word dies an idea popped in to my head, and this is what I came up with. 

I have had this Tilda image coloured and cut out in my box for years, and so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to use her up.

I die cut HAPPY from pink and blue background papers, and then several times from white cardstock so that I could stack the frame.

This die is the perfect size for paper piecing since there are very few tiny fiddly little pieces.

I use the lid from one of my A4 storage boxes to catch all the bits, which makes it soooo much easier to find all those tiny pieces.

Thank you for that tip Paul Church. My carpet certainly thanks you!!

I had a couple of other Tilda images already coloured and ready to go, so I couldn't resist the urge to finish up another couple of cards. Of course it also means that nothing very much went to waste from the die cuts.

I even used this lovely design to mirror the Y. I'm getting clever in my old age.

Everyone has been tired and grumpy this evening. They were all up far too early, so I'm hoping to wear them out a little bit tomorrow with a bike ride to meet Mummy from work. 

We always have jobs to do on a Sunday like stripping the beds and getting the washing done which they love to help with. Their reward is usually a trip to the park.....weather permitting, and sometime a mini hot chocolate from Costa. That's my treat while they expend some energy in the playground.

Better get to sleep before my little bestie comes and wakes me up. Kids have no sense of time, especially not Jack whose day usually seems to start at about 5am. I know that I start work then, but this is the weekend and my only chance of a lie in.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

A Little bit like a Tardis

Evening All,

It is quite scary to think just how much craft stuff I have accumulated over the last 25 years. A friend recently asked to borrow an old PSX wood mounted stamp, and whilst looking to see if I actually owned it, I realized just how many wood mounted stamps I owned and more importantly just how many I would never use even if I live to be 120!!!!!!

So I have decided to have a sort through them and get rid of a load.

Don't get me wrong I have sorted through them on more than one occasion over the years, but now I look at lots of them and wonder why I have hung on to them for so long.

Part of the problem with them is the storage. I do have a rather large storage space behind my door, the only trouble is it is very deep....3 stacks of stamp storage folders deep in fact, and there in lies the problem........they are not easily accessible, so lazily they don't get used because it is just too much faff to get them out.

The layout of my room, which is also my bedroom, hasn't changed much since Paula Pascual took photos of it when she was at mine for a Stampin Up party way back in 2008. She shared them HERE on the Crafty Storage blog.

I wish I still looked like this lol.

It was quite a crafty do with not only Paula, but also Julie Hickey present.

Over the years things have moved around a bit on the shelves to accommodate more STUFF, but the wood mounted stamps have stayed put, the collection has just expanded. I even got my Sin-in-law to raise my bed so that I could make full use of the space underneath it.

You can just about see the edge of the shelves on the far right of this picture.

And this is how the stamps are stored, except they are three stacks deep on each shelf!!! And that is only the wood mounted ones. Don't even get me started on the clear ones lol.

Yesterday I was groveling around under the bed in step one of my reorganization and sort out. 

I need something to store at the back of these shelves, particularly the top ones. Something that I don't need to access very often, so spare card stock seems like the perfect solution. I even have a replacement Cut n Boss waiting in the wings for the day that my one finally gives up the ghost, And I have more card stock than I thought humanly possible.

I think the expression is STABLE - STash Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy. I'm going to have to live for a very long time to even make a dent in it all.

I did have to wait for my eldest, very tall, Grandson to get back from college before I could start to tackle the top shelf as I am just not tall enough to reach the back stacks.......even with a stool!! I can push the stuff in to place, but I just can't reach to get them back out again, which is of course another very good reason for a bit of much needed reorganization.

People have always remarked that our house must be like a Tardis. It looks small on the outside, but is remarkably spacious inside. Well my room must definitely be like that when you think of everything that I have managed to cram in to it.

My plans are on the back burner for a few days as I am at my youngest daughters for babysitting duties but then I will also need to get a few more boxes to put stuff in so that it can go on to Ebay.

It's been quite fun looking at stamps that I had forgotten I had. So many ideas as well. Now all I need are a few extra weeks to play. Oh well a girl can dream I suppose.

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy your weekend.

Hugs Kimx

Happy Birthday Jack.....for last week.

Evening All,

I can't believe that it has already been a week since my youngest Grandson turned 2. Where has the time gone? I was lucky enough to be at his birth, which only seems such a short time ago. 

I thought that I had better not leave it as long to share his birthday card this year, as I did his last one lol.

Once again I reached for my LOTV Simply Print images, they are just perfect for a quick card for a little one.

I found some co-ordinating background papers and die cut the image using various circular dies.

I still love the effect of leaving the die in place and sponging colour around the edge of the image to create a nice narrow white border and some shading. Some of the simplest techniques can give some of the best impact.

I like to personalize a card since it makes it so much more special. 

Of course that is the beauty of having a stash of cards ready made, I can just add a name and age to it for instant personalization.

I printed out several different images before deciding on which one to use for Jack,

so of course I had to finish them all off as well.

I am trying very hard to use up bits and pieces from my stash. 

It never seems to make any sort of dent in it all, but one step at a time.......or at least one piece of paper anyway.

It's my weekend to babysit, so we will have to celebrate his birthday, and Mother's Day, all over again.

We won't make Mummy make his cake again. Isn't she clever?

Jack hasn't quite mastered the art of blowing out candles,

but he shows the same grim determination when it comes to cutting his cake lol.

Off to pack my bag ready for tomorrow, so thanks for popping by to see me.

Have a great evening.

Hugs Kimx

Sparkly Stencils

Evening Everyone,

Here are another couple of cards from my photo album of unblogged cards, or at least I hope that I haven't shared them with you before.

I love this sparkly addition to a card using a dotty stencil and some sparkle medium from Imagination.

Here I added colour through the stencil before adding the sparkle medium.

I didn't quite get the balance of colour right on this one, but I rather like it anyway. It's very sparkly in real life.

Well that's another month crossed off of my photo list, but if I ever catch up with the cards already photographed, there is still the two large boxes of cards under the desk, and not forgetting the Christmas cards on top of the cupboard lol.

Thanks for stopping by,

Hugs Kimx

Big Bold Words

 Evening All,

Today saw the launch of some new Sue Wilson dies, her Big Bold Words collection.

They really are fabulously large dies which make quite a statement on a card. I got to play with HAPPY.

I cut the die from a piece of card and used it as a stencil.

I sponged Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean Distress inks over the stencil before die cutting the whole thing with the outer die.

I added a little more ink to some pale pink cardstock along with some die cut wirlygig flowers and a hand drawn border.

I created the die cut panel on this card in the same way,

only I decided not to waste the coloured handmade stencil, so I attached it to the panel with glue.

I stamped and embossed Anniversary (one of several sentiment stamps that come with the die set) in to the spaces on the die cut letters.

I also added some tiny dots and then layered the panel onto a piece of dry embossed cardstock highlighted with various Creative Expressions polishes.

I can see this being a very useful addition to my dies, in fact I have an idea forming for another card as I am writing this.

You can see the dies in action next week when Gwen will be showcasing them on Create and Craft on 23rd March.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

The End of an Era

Afternoon, 

Another miserable Monday, they really are coming round far too quickly.

We have seen the end of an era in my house. My eldest Granddaughter has moved out and in to a flat with her boyfriend. It doesn't seem that long ago since we brought her home from the hospital. I can see her Dad barricading the door and not letting her leave when she next comes for a visit.

Of course I had to make her a card, so I reached for my LOTV Simply Print images and while I was at it I made a couple of other cards.

I do love these images for a new home card, in fact you can usually find some thing to suit any occasion.

I added some die cut daisies to compliment those on the kettle, and their initials on the tag.

I used another cute image for this second card. This time the couple are buying their own house so I thought this image appropriate with the 'sold' sign.

Once again I added some daisies.

My third card is made for a friend who has finally moved into her new flat with her little dog.

I thought the dog kennel rather appropriate and I think that she will see the funny side of it having moved from a large house into a tiny flat.

Thanks for stopping by on this wet and miserable afternoon.

Stay safe and a crafty hug

Kimx

Some Edger Dies

Evening All,

I hope that you have all had a good Sunday. Mine has been very productive. I have finished my DT samples and they are now safely packaged waiting to go in the post tomorrow when I finish work.

I have been working on some new Edger Dies, but since I can't share until they are launched,

here are a couple of cards made using some older designs.

They are perfect cut from background paper or over the top of some handmade background papers. Some of them are also perfect for a bit of paper piecing.

And I think they are also perfect for a spot of black and white which is always a favourite of mine.

Better get to bed now before it gets too much later.

Hugs Kimx

Birthday Bargello for Barbara

Evening All,

Today is the lovely Barbara Grey's birthday, so here is a card made with one of her Clarity stamps.

I stamped and embossed the image in white and then blended inks over the top.

I also painted some of the trees and the birds.

The background is a Bargello panel that I created in a class quite a while ago. I love the colours, and made the slices quite thin before piecing them back together for the Bargello effect.

I hope that Barbara had a fabulous birthday. I have spent the day working quite successfully on DT projects.

I still have some more to do tomorrow which will be fun, so I'm off to get some sleep if my brain will shut down for a few hours that is.

Stay safe and hugs

Kimx

Use Your Backgrounds.

Evening All,

Friday again, thank goodness. It has been so lovely to see kids walking to school again, but there are definitely going to be some very tired people at the end of the day......parents, teachers and students lol. I know just how tired I felt my first week back at work after only 3 months off with a bad foot last year.

I have spent the afternoon fulfilling a promise to an old crafty friend.

My friend Gill has suggested that we use up some of our stash of background papers, and believe me I certainly have plenty of those.

She made a beautiful card using a piece of background that she had made using vivid inks from years ago......and probably from one of my classes too.

Vivid inks, as their name suggests, were beautiful vivid colours of both inkpad and reinker. I loved using the reinkers for making backgrounds that involved drops of ink a spritz of water and then a smoosh together of two pieces of cardstock.

I also used some cling film on this piece. My stamped image is a new stamp from Francoise which has just been released. I used bleach on parts of the image and then coated everything in clear embossing poder having first painted it with a versamark pen.

While I was at it I made a second card using the same fabulous stamped image

and ink mopped up from my spray booth.

Once again I painted the jug with embossing ink and coated it with clear embossing powder.

I've got some more DT stuff to work on tomorrow so better get my thinking cap on.

Thanks for stopping by. Why not play with some of your stash of background pieces, I'm sure that you all have some amongst your stash.

Hugs Kimx