Mo Manning Images

I found these ready coloured Mo Manning printed images that I bought in a die cut sheet from a craft fair, time to use them. I found some paper that is printed with boat outlines, and even though only a tiny bit of the pattern shows on this card, I think it really works. The figure 4 was cut from the George cartridge on the Cricut, and I added a bit of stitching....

Since the little boy card seemed to work so well, I decided to reproduce it with one of the little girl images. Same layout, but what a difference, I really don't think the second card works at all, it just shows how the right colours/papers can make (or break) a design.....

Cameo Shoes

I found this sentiment label by Kanban in a drawer, and right next to it was this animal print paper, well, I had to use them. I decided to cut some spiky heeled shoes with my Cameo, I added a few drops of liquit pearls, and a strip that was punched with a Martha Stewart deep edge punch....

the sentiment is perfect for a shoe card.....

Golden Wedding Gift

We went to a lovely Golden Wedding lunch the other day - 50 years! Gulp!

The invitation specified no presents - our friends are hoping to move house soon, and I think the thought of more stuff was just too daunting. So I took my camera, and took loads of photos, then set to work on this.....

The chipboard book is by Bo Bunny, and I covered the pages in the glitziest golden papers I could find, and added quite a lot of bling - well, fifty years deserves a bit of sparkle......look, there's me, in the blue top at the bottom of  one of the pages....

I loved these photos of Jan with her daughter and granddaughter

I love doing these books as gifts, but find that you can't really use the latest scrapbook styles - there just isn't room. The other pages have a collage of all the friends and family that were there at the lunch - it's a lot to fit into one little book.
They loved it, I sent it by mail and they called me as soon as it arrived, Jan was quite tearful (I THINK they were tears of joy, at least, I hope so....) 

Ship Ahoy! Win a CD....

As you read this, we are probably on our way to Southampton to board the ship. I have been quite organised and printed out lots of stuff to colour just in case I get crafting withdrawal while I'm away. I printed out some of the cute rabbits from the Cherryblossom Lane CD by Polkadoodles...........

and a few cute girls and boys from the digistamp heaven CD, also by Polkadoodles....

The good news is I have a copy of Cherryblossom Lane to give away. The winner will be drawn from all comments on this post on the 2nd July. If you have never used a Polkadoodles CD you are in for a treat, they are so packed with printable papers, stamps, sentiments and lots more. Good luck!

I have switched off comment moderation for when I am away, which means your comments will show up straight away. But to do this, I have also had to disable anonymous comments to get rid of spam - I am sure none of you want to read about red-hot mamas or cheap vitamins?

I have scheduled posts for almost every day while I am away, there are a couple of giveaways coming up as well, so keep looking. I hope that when we get to port I will be able to add some photos and give you an update - there may well be a tale or two to tell, all that people watching I will be doing from the comfort of my sun lounger.....

What a mess!......

Here's another of the samples I made with the Nellie Snellen embossing punches for my friend Mandy of Scrappy-go-Lucky

Again, I used the flower punches, large, medium and small, but this time I layered them. The leaf sprigs are called large rose leaf embossing set. The base card is by Craftwork Cards

I have been in a bit of a frenzy trying to get things done before I head for the ocean waves on Saturday. Here's what my desk looked like tonight.......

and the floor......

and the sofa.......

In fact, the mess seems to have crept like an unruly plant into every room in the house. Every time I go up and downstairs I leave a trail of gems, little bits of paper and glitter. I have a very small crafting space, but this is ridiculous. Everything has now been tidied away - bring on the suitcases...

More Nellie Snellen punched flowers...

I promised I would show you the Nellie Snellen flower punches. They have been hidden in a drawer and out of mind for a while, but after struggling with the Susans Garden dies, which are very pretty, but fiddly, I remembered these, and fell in love with them all over again. The green oval was also done with a Nellie Snellen die cut set, you cut the oval and all the little pieces and slot them in - another fiddly job, and I don't do fiddly, but the flowers are another matter........I love the embossed lines and the little raised centers..

You get two punches for each flower/leaf, you punch out the flower from the die with the solid silver flower on it, then pop it into the embossing punch (with the dotted outline), press down......and you get a beautifully embossed flower...I have quite a few sizes so they are easy to layer. They look just like the expensive Prima paper flowers you find in stores

This is so much easier than having to score the little veins on the leaves yourself, so these are back in my favourite-of-the-moment drawer. Expect to see more! Mine came from Scrappy-go-lucky in Australia.

I have been busy busy busy making cards and catching up with design team stuff for while I am away. The desk looks as if a bomb has dropped on it, ah well, I'll have a quick tidy up before I go....

See you tomorrow x

A Basket of Flowers

Here's one I made using the Nellie Snellen flower dies that I got from my pal Mandy of Scrappy-Go-Lucky. You get two punches, one punches out the flowers, then you put the die cut in another, and press, all the embossed lines and little raised centers on the flowers appear as if by magic. I'll take a photo of them and show them tomorrow. The basket, fence and scallop frame were cut with my Cricut (basket doodlecharms, scallop frame Elegant Edges, fence Bloom). I embossed the fence and basket with a woodgrain embossing folder. The flowers were cut in white, then I just sponged them lightly with faded jeans distress ink......

I have no idea what happened to the photos of the boys, they were there when I posted, then poof, gone - let's try again. First of all, Max and Milo, love the way Max is giving his little brother a hug....

and Monty, taken on his fourth birthday on Saturday.....

I am in serious list making and packing mode now (we leave on Saturday). Because we are sailing from the UK, with no flights and baggage restrictions to worry about, I may be going a bit overboard (unintentional pun). Do you think fourteen pairs of shoes/sandals and ten handbags may be a tiny bit excessive? The guidance given by P & O is that there is no limit on the number of cases we take, but that we should remember that they have to fit into the cabin...right....so the  packing frenzy means that we will probably be clambering over cases just to get to the loo, or into bed. That may not go down that well with Mike....better go and make another list....

See you tomorrow x

A Garden Trellis.....

Here's another card made with the Silhouette Cameo - I cut the base card with a cut out front which I purchased from the Silhouette store. I thought it cried out to be a garden trellis, so I cut some Memory Box vines and flowers to trail up the card. I added gems to the flower centers - oops, I missed one, and added a pale green cardstock to the inside of the card......

It made a pretty and delicate looking card - I would probably write a greeting on the back of the card so that the effect isn't spoilt by my scrawled handwriting....

I emailed my friend Mary to ask about the can-can girl stamp, here is her reply - thanks Mary

 Go to 7kidscollegefunds.com
and then choose kraftin kimmie and then choose Cheryl Alger stamps and
then choose saucy girls. There are several really cute stamps in this
section!  The stamp is.............Suzette, yes you can-can! 

I haven't shown photos of the children for ages, here are my birthday boys (all photos 'lifted' from facebook, so they are not edited). First of all, Max and Milo who were six and four two weeks ago at their joint birthday party.....




and here is Monty who was four yesterday. We didn't get down to London for his party, but I spoke to him on the phone. He loved the pirate ship we bought him but when I asked him what present Mummy and Daddy had bought him, he whispered 'I can't remember'
Can't remember Monty? That's supposed to be my line not yours......





Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I am enjoying the sunshine....

Goody Box Cards....

It's my turn to post over on the Craftwork Cards blog today, here are a couple of the cards I made, using the Happy Days goody box and the Paper Bows pad. They have started a new subscription for the goody boxes, go HERE to see what it's all about, and to see the rest of my cards....pretty please!

I spent a couple of hours today making some Susan's Garden flowers with my new sissix dies - oh my goodness, talk about tiny, some of these are positively microscopic. I have a feeling that my (a) natural messiness (b) impatience and (c) inability to pick up teensy pieces of paper with a tweezers may make this a short lived passion. I'll share the results next week. Anyone else who is thinking of buying some, go and look at YouTube videos BEFORE you spend an hour trying to figure it all out, the instructions are hopeless!

We are promised a sunny weekend here in the UK, so wherever you are, I hope the sun shines upon you - especially if you are a little boy called Monty and you are having a fourth birthday party today. Happy Birthday sweetheart xx

Using Prisma Pencils for a change......

When I was lounging around on the sofa after the recent hospital stuff, I had a few withdrawal symptoms from crafting, I didn't dare get out my ProMarkers because the sofa is pale cream and I am a messy worker. So after a bit of thought I dug out my Prisma pencils. Wow, they took a bit of getting used to, I haven't coloured with pencils for ages, and had forgotten how different it is. I used this can-can girl stamp that belongs to my friend Mary in Florida, stamped before I came home. I have no idea who made the stamp, but I can find out if anybody needs to know........

I rather like the sentiment, it would make a great encouragement card

While I am writing this post the TV is droning on in the background and a programme I have never seen before (or ever want to see again) has started. It's called Embarrassing Bodies, and consists of people consulting with good- looking TV doctors about their embarrassing condition, often it seems to be a quite intimate part of their embarrassing body, which is then filmed in enthusiastic close-up by a film crew. Now two things spring to my bemused mind: 

Don't these people know that we have a national health service in the UK, so they can see a doctor free, and take their embarrassing body into a nice little room with no camera crew following them.......

Have they given a bit of advanced thought to this, before letting them film their most intimate parts in technicolour close-up. I mean, how embarrassing would it be to take your embarrassing body into work tomorrow, to be greeted by everyone saying 'ooh, I saw you and your ******** on the telly last night' .......just saying....

See you tomorrow x

New Stuff in the Crafty Cupboard......

Look what's turned up - new gorgeous stuff from Craftwork Cards. There are die cut banners, a pad of kraft tags (gorgeous quality, really heavyweight cardstock), a pad of die cut mannequins some plain, some embossed, and my favourite new thing a pad full of different pattern die cut paper bows, I'll show you some stuff made with them later in the week.....If you go to their website, you get 15% discount on your order to promote their new website

Although I have never got into the Tim Holtz tag thing, I couldn't resist making a quick tag. I cut an embossed frame in half and inked it with Wild Honey distress ink, stamped some Hero Arts background spots and stripes, inked a music note flower from the Tea Dance collection and it was ready for the mannequin.....

 and this next photo is of some more toys tools that have arrived. A self-indulgence this time, I ordered some of the latest Susan's Garden flower dies by Sissix from Blitsy, (have you been to look at Blitsy's site? Fantastic discounts on craft stuff)  Oops, I had to pay customs duty of £20 ($30) before they would deliver. Never mind, they will be fun to work with. The dies are so TINY though, I am not sure I will have the patience to do them, but I am itching to try, so watch this space

I am debating whether to take any craft stuff with me on my cruise holiday. I know that I get withdrawal if I stay away from it for too long. Maybe my ProMarkers and some stamped images? Yes, I could sit in one of those steamer chairs in the sun colouring happily for hours. Happy days ahead...

See you tomorrow x

Print and Cut

One of the reasons I wanted a Silhouette was the ability to print and cut - I have bought lots of label shapes and I have visions of printing sentiments then cutting out the label shapes - I have no idea how to do this yet, but I'm sure there is an easy way. So my very first attempt to print and cut was this funky little bee shape. I thought that it would cut around and leave a white border, which I would have hated - I dislike that 'sticker' look, but no, I printed the bee twice, and it cut perfectly, even around those thin little antennae. I added a bit of stitching, and did a rather wobbly bee trail on the machine as well, but it didn't seem to matter - a funky bee trail for a funky bee! The gathered ribbon is from Polkadoodles

I cut the wings and head off the second bee, and popped them on with foam pads, then I covered the whole thing in glossy accents......

and the sentiment was from a set that a faithful visitor and blog friend sent me - she saw it, and thought of me, and got it for me as a gift. I have made so many good friends through this blog! Thanks again Sandy x

We have eleven days before we go on holiday, I have made ten lists already and the bedroom looks as if a bomb has gone off in there. I guarantee, that no matter how organized I am, trying on outfits (well, it's a rare chance to dress up on a cruise), that I will unpack on board and gaze helplessly at the stuff I take,  thinking 'why on EARTH did I bring that......' Still, list making is a lot of fun. I particularly like to put down things that I have already done so that I can put a nice line through it - I know, sad!

See you tomorrow x

More winners and a swing card.

Now I am going to make someone happy this Monday morning. The number that came up for the Craftwork Cards goody box was number 5.........GLENNIS

The original winner of the Letraset limited edition ProMarkers has still not been in touch, so I drew again out of all the original comments, and the name that fell out of the hat this time was DIANNE BELL 

Congrats to you both, email me with your details please, I need full address and telephone number if you are in the USA, just the address if you are in the UK. If I don't hear from either of these winners by next Monday, I will redraw. Sigh!

I have at last found time to play around a bit with my Silhouette, I am not really comfortable with it yet, it certainly isn't second nature to do stuff quickly, so I tend to use my Cricut and tried and tested cuts. But I need to master it, and the only way I am going to do that is to use it. So here is a swing card I made, and I couldn't believe how easy it was to do. I have made a few of these special fold cards by hand in the past and it took forever to measure and cut accurately. All the layered pieces were cut out perfectly (I just used the back of the pattern paper which was white, and inked it)......... really easy, so I am happy with the way it's going. I have no intention of designing complicated stuff myself, I just don't have time (or the talent to be honest). I will use it in the same way that I have always used the Cricut, take a cut and put my own stamp/interpretation on the card. The advantage of the Silhouette is that you can buy just one cut at a time, I have yet to explore fully any of my Cricut cartridges, so this may be more effective.  

the sentiment is from a sheet by Kanban, who have sadly gone out of business here in the UK, the little girl was a freebie stamp from a magazine by designer Gillian Flint.....

I added a little spray of flowers to the left hand side which looked a bit bare....

and the stamp was coloured with ProMarkers whilst I had my feet up on the sofa admiring my souvenir socks.......

I have suddenly become re-energised today. The healing took place suddenly when we booked a last minute cruise (sailing around the Mediterranean for a couple of weeks). All of a sudden I have enough energy to go hunting for new clothes (and shoes, oh, and a new bag....). It's a miracle!

See you tomorrow when I'll show you my first attempt at print and cut with the Silhouette x

WIN a Craftwork Cards Goody Box.......

These are the latest goody boxes from Craftwork Cards, packed full of gorgeous coordinating card making goodies. I have one to give away to one of you.......

You get a load of 8 x 8 beautiful papers, foiled message labels, matching candi, matching ribbon, sentiment butterflies, dress forms to decorate, coordinating die cut flowers....it goes on and on, loads and loads of stuff PLUS ten scallop card blanks and envelopes, and ten square card blanks and envelopes - you will LOVE it

All you have to do is pop over to the Craftwork Cards blog, and sign up to follow - the design team post at least every day, so there is huge inspiration over there, you won't regret it! We have 958 followers today, let's see a lot of new faces tomorrow.  Come back here and leave your name, making sure I can identify you if you win (make sure you leave a name). I will mail the box to anywhere in the world, and will pick a winner by random.org on Monday. Good luck.

On the subject of prizes, I haven't heard from Kanda, who was drawn as the winner of the limited edition ProMarkers. If I haven't heard from her by Monday, I will draw another winner from those who left a comment on the relevant post.

Still staying with Craftwork Cards, here's one I made using the very lovely new Tea Dance collection. The flowers were cut out a couple of times from one of the papers, and layered. The embossed square is one of their embossed frames. I covered the petals of the flowers with a thin layer of vintage rose distress stickles, so they have a lovely sheen....

the candi got a matching coat of stickles as well......

and the stamens were added with some pale pink liquid pearls.....the doily effect is printed on the paper, isn't it pretty?

Phew! Long post today, as my energy levels aren't up to full power yet, I may need to take a nap now.....

and the winner is.....and some butterfly kisses......

Firstly, the winner of the Letraset limited edition ProMarkers is.....

KANDA

Congrats and email me your name, address and a telephone number so that Letraset can get the pens out to you (they need a phone number for the courier). Thanks to all of you who threw their names in the hat, there will be another giveaway very soon...

So I got back to my desk at last, I am still feeling quite tired, so little steps. I made this card with some lovely Authentique papers, the cloud die is by Memory Box, and the butterfly is by Quickuts (I never spell that company's name properly, but you know who I mean!)

I popped the cloud layer on with foam pads, then added more foam pads to the cutout clouds and offset them......

I love this butterfly, the pearls were done with liquid pearls, I am finally getting the hang of using that stuff without having pointy little tops to the pearls......

The weather here has been gorgeous (at last) time for a nice relax in the garden with the Sunday papers. We are going to a 50th wedding anniversary lunch party today, so fingers crossed the weather holds.

I'll be back tomorrow with a surprise giveaway for you x