Another engagement!

This time my older sister, which is really lovely, although I rather hope she's not reading this because I haven't sent it yet! If she is - it'll be with you next week :)

As usual it's a white card blank. I'm favouring tent fold at the moment. I cut a piece of my new Papermania 6x6 smooth coloured card slightly smaller than the card base. I chose purple because of the fuschias. The stamps are from the free Clearly Besotted set from Simply Cards and Papercraft issue 133, and the inspiration for the card came from there as well as from Vixx Handmade Cards. 

The leaves are stamped in Versa Magic DewDrop Hint of Pesto and then fussy cut. The buds and flowers stamped in Jet Black Ranger Archival Ink onto water colour paper. I then took the opportunity to use my new Caran D'Ache Prismallo Aquarelles that I bought on holiday. I like them, and I'll practice a bit more with them. After the vibrancy of the Inktense pencils, these were different to work with. I fussy cut the fuschias out too and attached them all with foam pads to the card front.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted's Mr & Mrs set. I rounded the corners of the card top with the reverse punch on my WRMK Envelope Punch Board and attached it with foam tape.

Thanks for reading and I'm hoping my sister likes it!

Sweet...

It's not usual I get crafting done during the day except when baby naps AND 4 year old is at nursery, but I managed it today!

We've had a few happy family events lately, one of which is a new baby for a cousin across the Atlantic. I used the opportunity to make a card and had a play with those free Clearly Besotted stamps I got from Simply Cards and Papercraft 133 and did some masking for the first time.

It's not what I'd call a typical baby card, so on the inside I stamped new baby from the Sweet Little Sentiments set.

I used a card blank and covered it with some pink spotty (yes it was a girl!) backing card from my Pebbles basics. I stamped the jar in Memento Tuxedo Black and then did a few masks of the sweet and stamped away with a selection of VersaMagic DewDrops in pastel shades. I made a mask for the 'Hope your day is as Sweet as you are' sentiment and blocked out everything but the 'Sweet'. The card topper is mounted using foam tape.

Husband was rather impressed and I have to say I thought it wasn't bad for a first attempt at some masking.

Thanks for reading. Hope your weekend has been crafty too!

Ruby Anniversary

Back from Switzerland in one piece and with a commission! My friend really likes my cards, so she asked me if I could do one for her Mum and Dad's ruby wedding anniversary. After many false starts - I just couldn't get the stamping right - this is what I came up with:

I bought some nice card today in Hobbycraft. It's Papermania Capsule 6x6 smooth cardstock and I love all the different colours. I used a supposedly 6x6 card blank (it is in actual fact 14.75x14.75cm), so I'm a bit annoyed I had to trim one of the red cards to cover the card front. The decoration was done on a 14x14cm piece of white card. The butterflies are from Tattered Lace Vine Die I got as a Christmas present die cut from another piece of red card. The decoration is from the Clearly Besotted Mr & Mrs set using Versa Magic Dew Drop Red Magic with the statement in Memento Tuxedo Black. I added a strip of red velvet ribbon I had in my stash from Christmas card making.

It's been so nice to have been asked. Who knows, there may be more!

Thanks for reading :)

Crafty Switzerland :)

We're on holiday in Switzerland, but that hasn't stopped me hunting down some crafty things to take back home to Blighty. I love my three Derwent Inktense pencils, and I'd like some more. However, every time I go to an art shop, they only have the single pencils in stock and I'd rather buy a tin of 12 - it's more economical at the price they are.

Whilst shopping for baby's first birthday present (tomorrow!!) in the Coop (it's a supermarket with a shopping centre) in Lausanne, I came across Caran D'Ache tins of watersoluble pencils. The pencils are Swiss made (like Derwent are British made) the company has been around for 100 years. I thought it would be a nice reminder of our trip, so I purchased:

A tin of 12 Prismalo Aquarelle

A carton of 6  Fancolor Metallic colour pencils - I thought they were different!

And for good measure some handmade butterfly stickers from the craft section I just liked the look of.

No photo because despite me following all the instructions, Google+ won't talk to my iPad and I can't upload photos from this device. Suffice to say, they are lovely and I am very happy. Just to survive the journey back with the kiddies so I can use them :)

Birthday Express

Been a week since I blogged and I've been getting a bit frustrated at the lack of crafting going on in my life. We all got colds and under 5s with colds are hard work, bless them. Not been well. However, we're all back on the mend just in time for our holiday in a few days and as we're going to visit some friends with a little one who just turned 4, I figured some crafting was in order. Here is the end result!

The base is a  precut A6 card blank. I used my Derwent Inktense Pencils (Hot Red, Sun Yellow, Lagoon) to create the backing colours on a piece of water colour paper, blending them slightly together - I will be getting some more pencils in next month's crafting purchase! I then cut it to size and rounded the corners.

The die is the Sweet Dixie steam train and I bought it because my husband is a railway enthusiast. For those who want to know, it is a 9F, of which, nine still survive. I cut it out of some scrap silver card and glued it to the water colour paper. I then stuck it onto the card top, and stuck this onto the card blank with double sided tape.

I stamped the name and the age using Memento Tuxedo Black onto some Bazzill card and coloured them in with my pencils, then cut them out and stuck them onto the card with foam pads. I thought it would be fun to have them take the place of the steam!

I hope you and he like it. Thanks for reading :)

Hang in there

Hello again. Here is card number three from my crafting mania of Thursday morning. I really enjoyed making this one. It's just stamping with a bit of colouring. I'm definitely realising that I prefer Clean And Simple (CAS) cards.

Monkey here is from a Mama Elephant stamp set called Up and Away that I purchased from Make the Day Special. Golly, they have some lovely things. I was good and only bought this set, but I was sorely tempted to buy so much more!

I started by using my three Derwent Inktense Pencils (Hot Red, Sun Yellow and Lagoon) to create a nice rainbow of colours. Once dry, I stamped the balloon onto it using Jet Black Ranger Archival Ink and cut out the balloons and not the string with my Tonic fine control scissors. I then stamped the balloons onto the card with the archival ink and the monkey (and its tail which is separate!), holding onto the strings, in Memento Tuxedo Black. I stamped one of the sentiments from the set and then using foam pads added the coloured balloons. It looked a bit plain despite the balloons, so I coloured in the monkey using some of my new Derwent Artists pencils (they were cheaper in the shop!). I know a lot of you use pens (Spectrum, Copic, Promarkers), but I have a fondness for pencils at the moment.

I really like it and I think I'll use this set again and again. 

Thank you for reading!

Dragonflies

Hello! Yesterday morning while the baby napped I crafted like a demon. It's lucky I did because we had no power all evening from 4-9pm - not great with tiny ones. Thank heaven for my old whistling kettle and a gas hob!

So, here are two of the three (yes! 3!) cards I made. It's using the free dragonfly die and stamp set that came with issue 134 of Simply Cards and Papercraft. I like to try out some of the cards when I get an issue using similar products that I have in my stash. I get to try new techniques without buying even more stuff, especially as I was waiting for the new Clearly Besotted Stamps March release. I've also decided, that if I have time and inclination, I'll make multiples of cards. Means I can dip into my cards when I need one in an emergency.

They're both made in the same way using an A6 pre-scored card blank. I covered them with spotty paper from a pack of Pebbles Card Making Basics. This isn't ideal, as it has a score line so you can make them into cards, but it is not too noticeable when as a card back. 

I then die cut three dragonflies from a sheet of Bazzill paper - white and pink (Bazzill Bling). I added the sentiment from the Clearly Besotted sweet little sentiments stamp using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and added a couple of sticky pearls. 

I adhered the card top to the card using foam pads on the top card, but on the bottom one, I just used glue, to see which I'd prefer (glue!). I then put some glue on the body of the butterflies and stuck them into the apertures, bending the wings slightly so they were proud of the card.

Thank you for reading and I hope you like :)

Birds on a Wire - From me to you

I started a card on Friday whilst baby was napping and toddler was at nursery. She's been a bit poorly this week, so it didn't last long and I only managed to finish it this morning whilst she was napping and toddler was watching CBeebies. Didn't take long, just needed a bit of glue and a sentiment.

I decided to try my hand at one of the cards I saw in Simply Cards and Papercraft, with the idea of having something interesting on the inside of the card, in my case, viewed from an aperture. 

I started with a 6x6" card blank in Bazzill Cardshoppe in a nice blue shade. I found another shade of blue Bazzill Basics in my stash and cut it 1/4" smaller than the card front and added another layer in cream Bazzill Basics 1/4" smaller still on top - that's a bit long winded for mat and layering! I cut a circle aperture on the bottom right of the card top using my Spellbinders Nestabilities Circles dies. Next I took the card front and cut a circle in the larger size. I then took some watercolour paper and using my Derwent Inktense pencils, made some blocks of colour which I brushed with water and used to die cut out the Spellbinders 'Birds on a wire' (a Christmas present that I've finally found a project for!). I stamped the sentiment (Clearly Besotted Mini Basic Banners) onto the inside of the card using Memento Tuxedo Black and affixed the birds to the card top, then the card top to the card front and there you are! 

I love the blues and I feel it needs an envelope - time to crack out the envelope board :)