NBUS #7 - Using my Fuseable papers at last!

Hello, hello! Well we have returned from holiday and are getting back into the swing of things before school starts up again - the holidays have gone remarkably quickly. The Colouring Challenge ended at the start of August, but another of my favourite challenges, Darnell's NBUS [Never Before Used Schtuff] started on 27th and I finally got round to having a play with some of my NBUS. It's amazing what you can amass quite quickly!

My sister asked me if I could make a wedding card for her to give to a couple who are getting married soon. I decided now would be a great time to crack out my as yet unused Fuseable Papers. This is plastic paper that you can use with your Fuse tool for scrapbooking and card making.

I really loved it - it does melt and bond beautifully. I started by making a shaker pocket with a cheap plastic folder around the image I'd previously coloured as part of the 30 Day Coloring Challenge. I cut out some hearts from the paper and fused them onto the front. You do need to make sure you have a piece of paper in between the pocket sides when doing this otherwise the pocket will also Fuse together :). I then filled it with Sparkling Coral shaker selection from Lucy's Cards (it's now discontinued). I sealed it up and then got on with sealing it onto the Fuseable paper.

I took three sizes of squares, bigger than my shaker pocket and simply melted the plastic through the layers as you can tell by the photograph. It works well through two layers. The back layer I fused through the green spotty paper. It feels very secure.

I stuck the panel onto my card base with some strong double sided tape.

Below is a list of materials I used to make this card. Please note I DO NOT USE affiliate links :) 

Lawn Fawn Mermaid for You	Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black	WHSmith Watercolour Paper 12 Sheets - Art, Craft and Hobbies	Hobbycraft Clear Acrylic Stamping Blocks 2 pack	WRMK Photo Sleeve Fuse Tool	We R Memory Keepers - FUSEables Paper - Sweetheart	We R Memory Keepers - FUSEables Paper - Confetti	Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper - 1/4 and 1/2 inch
Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolour Sketcher's Pocket Box Paint

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I am so thrilled I finally used this, so thank you Darnell as it's got me using my Fuse again as I hadn't had it out for a while. I'm mulling over some other ideas for using this paper and have been looking for some standalone dies like butterflies and hearts as I think they would work brilliantly on the front of shakerpockets.

I hope you'll feel inspired to have a go at giving your NBUS some love - don't let it sit all alone on the shelf and link it up below:

Magazine Makes #4 - Distance Seems So Little

Hi All. well, we're done on holiday number two - it's been that kind of month, but hey, no chance for anyone to get bored!

My copy of Simply Cards and Papercraft arrived a couple of weeks ago in between holidays and when I saw it, I knew I had to play with the stamps straight away. It happily coincided with a much needed TV break for the kiddies, so I had 20 minutes of uniterrupted play time to colour. I finished the card later on in the day.

I started by stamping out the hummingbird and one of the flowers from the set onto water colour card with archival ink using my MISTI. Sometimes I find stamps from the magazines don't stamp very well, but these were excellent first time.

I then coloured in the hummingbird using my Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens. I squeeze some out onto a small pallet and colour with a brush as I find them too juicy to work with on their own. I coloured the flower in with Spectrum Aquas.

Then came the fun bit - fussy cutting. Yep. It's lucky the Proms are on at the moment so I had good music to accompany me on Radio 3!

I wanted to give the impression of a sun in the background, and I searched for a colour I was happy with. How lucky that I've been hoarding this beautiful pomegranate Bazzill paper for ages and I thought it was just the colour. I cut it out with one of my Spellbinders circle dies.

I put it together really simply. Just a folded A2 (US) card base, with the sentiment stamped in the bottom right hand corner, the 'sun' in the middle and the hummingbird and flower popped up on foam pads.

I hand drew the border with my Copic Spica Glitter pen and a Uni-ball Fine Line 0.2.

Below is a list of what I used to make this card. Please note that I DO NOT USE affiliate links.

Simply Cards and Papercraft Issue 153	Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens - Shades of Spring	Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens - Clear	Spectrum Aqua Markers - Floral	Hobbycraft Clear Acrylic Stamping Blocks 2 pack	A4 Super Smooth White Card - 250gsm - 100 Sheets	WHSmith Watercolour Paper 12 Sheets - Art, Craft and Hobbies	Tonic Studios Maxi Guillotine
Martha Stewart Mini Scoreboard	Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black	Hero Arts Stamp Scrubber Pad	Clear Design Ultra Clean Stamp Cleaner	Lawn Fawn Stamp Shammy	Tonic Titanium Fine Control Scissors	Copic Glitter Pen	Uni PIN Drawing Pen Black
My Sweet Petunia - MISTI Mini	Double sided foam pads	Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large	Sizzix Big Shot Die Cutting Machine

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It's currently on its way in the post, so I hope they like it as much as I do. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and to comment, you do mean so much to me!

30 Day Coloring Challenge - Week 4 Round Up - the end!

Hi All. I know the challenge finished last week, but we have been on holiday and without WiFi - I know, in this day and age ;)... but seriously much as I love it, it was quite nice to get away from social media for a while.

I did do some colouring during the last week of the challenge and here is my round up. Although I didn't colour every day, I did colour multiple images on the days I did.

Day 28: I had a whole day to myself and I took the opportunity to meet up with a crafty friend not too far from where we were staying. I took my bag of Copic markers and coloured pencils and some pre stamped images and coloured on the train. [Sorry, but I can't find details for the rose stamp, but I got it from Make Your Mark in York]

Day 31: I carried on colouring after the end of the challenge because I had supplies and time. This time, some more Copic images. These digital stamps are by 2CuteInk and were a freebie with my magazine.

Day 32: We were visiting my in laws (the reason we holidayed where we did!) and while one little one had a rest in the back garden, and the other one watched a bit of telly, I got my Cotman Water Colour set and did a whole pile of water colouring.

Below is a list of the ink, paper and colouring mediums used. Please note I DO NOT USE affiliate links.

Sugar Pea Designs Quackers	Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolour Sketcher's Pocket Box Paint	WHSmith Watercolour Paper 12 Sheets - Art, Craft and Hobbies	Derwent Artists Pencils 12 Tin	Copic Markers	Simply Cards and Papercraft Issue 150	*Neenah Classic Crest **110 LB** SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE Paper Pack 25 Sheets	Lawn Fawn Mermaid for You
Viking	Memento Tuxedo Black	Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black	Versamark Watermark Ink	WOW! Bright White Embossing Powder

InLinkz.com

Here endeth the fifth 30 Day Coloring Challenge. A massive thank you to Kathy Racoosin, the brains behind it all, and to everyone who has watched and commented on my Instagram, blog posts and videos. You are all amazing and all inspirational too!

Some of these will be turned into cards in due course, so keep your eyes peeled on here.

Thank you, as always, for your reading and for your lovely comments. Have a good one!