The Other Side Of Me

I am finally able to pop on with some Christmas cards.  I have been making some every day.  I am NOT going to take such a frantic approach next year and you can hold me to that!  I need about 200 cards a year so I have got  to make some every week next year.  I could easily do it if I gave myself enough time. Anyway, on with the cards: I am finally using up the last of my Holly Berry Bouquet papers, which I must have had for about 3 years.  The colour scheme is real red, wild wasabi (although the ink I've used here is gumball green) cherry cobbler and chocolate chip (with very vanilla obviously!)  I've bought brand new inks recently so I could make lots of cards and the cherry cobbler is stunning to work with.  I kept some silver thread from a gift box earlier in the year knowing I was going to make cards like this with it, so I was very pleased to discover this in my stash. I've used various stamps that I've acquired over the years. ...

So are you doing it?  Huh?   Huh?! Yes I have succumbed to the attraction of December Daily for the first time ever.  Actually I'm throwing myself into it.  I've got my folder, I've got my journaling cards.  Now I just need to take some photos! I'm going to show you the cover, but before I do, I need to tell you I'm not very keen on it, so don't expect a work of art, because you'll be disappointed!! I'm using Simple Stories Cosy Christmas and it's really lovely stuff. The colour scheme is very close to Very Vanilla (used here on the cover), Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Cherry Cobbler and Always Artichoke, which are the colours I'm using to make my Christmas cards this year, so I ordered some extra cardstock just to be on the safe side. The little postcard is from the Cosy Christmas set and the washi tape is from Hobbycraft, as is the little wooden stag on the post card (wooden embellishments with everything, right?!) I know it's hard to...

I have spent many hours trawling the internet trying to find ways that people have used the Pines and Poinsettias stamp set from last year as I've borrowed it from a friend.  I also bought the Holly Berry Bouquet dsp, so that I could use both items together.  I had quite an adventure in the end, come and have a look: For the first card I drew a circle around one of my little SU brads containers and stamped the image all the way around, then rubbed the pencil line out.  I deliberately did it on white cardstock and the card is very clean and fresh looking.  The real red card base is 4" square.  I've stamped the sentiment, cut it out and propped it up on dimensionals.  The word 'merry' is from the Pennant Parade set.  Although Pines and Poinsettias is retired, there's probably something in the new catalogue that would work in a similar way. Then I saw a video on Youtube here where a girl makes some lovely tags.  I decided to have a go and the...

I have been working on a very special card.  Our youngest daughter Abby and her hubby have finally had a dream come true and been able to foster a beautiful little boy.  They have been longing for this day, so I wanted to celebrate with them.  We went to visit on Sunday and I was able to take this card along with me: I've used lots of different items to make my vision a reality here, and I'm so glad I've got all these items to make this card possible! I started off by stamping the Teddy Bo (free with Simply Cards and Papercraft back in May or June) in Soft Suede ink.  Up until then I'd intended to make the card in red, blue and green, but I fell in love with the colour as soon as it touched the paper, and the rest fell into place after that. The balloons have been stamped in river rock, crumb cake and choc chip and cut out with my balloon dies and propped up on dimensionals after I'd taped some linen thread to the back.  I stamped just Teddy Bo's paw out, ...

I am trying, at least once a month, to make a 3D item.  This is something I should actually have made a while ago and have only just got round to it. We had the instructions on how to make this at the workshop, but I didn't have time to do it on the day.  But finally, this week, I've been able to make it.  Take a look: Has this got your curiosity?  Have another look: Yes, something that's even closer to my heart than crafting - chocolate! Here's a close up of the case: I've made the case out of Chocolate Chip cardstock, which I ran through the Bigshot in a swirly embossing folder.  I scored and folded it to fit the bar of chocolate inside.  I cut the tag by hand, and ran the top part through the Bigshot with a scalloped die at the top.  I ran it through half way, then wound it back again, so it made the scalloped top of the die.  I was very excited by this, I can tell you! I stamped the lovely image in Chocolate C...

For some reason Fridays always seem to be a good time to get involved with a Christmas card.  Finally I'm able to join in with a challenge I've followed for a little while.  It's at Lesley Croghan's blog called Always Playing With Paper where she gives us a new sketch each week.  This is the latest one: After a great deal of planning with regard to size and dimension, this is my card entry: I've had this stamp for quite a while now.  She was packaged as a birthday stamp, but she suits Christmas so well.  The colours, cardstock and dsp are all SU.  The Chocolate Chip piece has been embossed with a snowflake embossing folder and then punched along the bottom with a scallop punch.  I had a dither with placement of the sentiment as I didn't want to cover the robin up, he's so sweet.  The card base is only C6 and it's made it a really sweet little card, like a little package, you almost want to use it as a cover for a bag of sweets or somet...

Hello blog friends!  Is it still freezing where you are?  It's really cold here and we still have some snow, but hubby hasn't had any problems driving to work, which means I'll be able to get to craft group tonight, thank goodness.  Is it wrong to be so excited about something like that?! So let me tell you what happened last week.  Over on the Little Claire Designs blog, they've showcased their latest stamp release, and very nice they are too, all very 'summer in the garden' (something I think we're all looking forward to!) All you had to do was leave a comment on the stamp of the day to be in with a chance of being picked to win the stamp.  And guess what?  I won!  There were 61 comments on the day I was picked, so I was thrilled, as you can imagine. The moment the stamp arrived, I inked it up and had a play, then yesterday made what I am sure will be the first of many cards with this beautiful stamp: When I get a new stamp I stamp it into my ske...

Hello everyone, I hope you're managing to keep warm.  Most of our snow has melted, but it froze over night and now it's lethal out there.  Good excuse to stay indoors, if you ask me! I subscribe to Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine, and it's very good (very shabby chic oriented).  There was a wonderful set of free stamps and paper in this month's issue, so I decided to get busy.  Here's what I've made: The base is actually Chocolate Chip (SU) but the papers are all from HOTP.  This isn't my style of card making any more, as it's just basically cutting and sticking, but I was really pleased with how these turned out. I have stamped the birds nest, though, also in CC.   The stamps are lovely, I'll definitely be using them again. Here's another one: The bird house image is part of the stamp set and is very sweet.  I've made a list of birthdays from now until the end of April and have 13 to make so these will come in very handy.  I ...

I've been asked to make a Valentine for a friend of mine. And this is what I made: Sadly I can't claim this was my idea, I've cased it from the awesome Darlene here .  She has even provided a video tutorial, so you can follow it step by step.  I started with a plain white 5x7 card which I distressed with Tim Holtz Old Paper distress ink, then stamped over it in Crumb Cake with my Letter stamp from Penny Black which is quite a big background stamp.  I also have a post mark stamp so I stamped that on a couple of times.  Then I made the envelope from a 4" square of paper, which I scored across each centre line and folded to make the envelope, which is slightly different to the way you'll see in the video. The hearts are cut out using various dies and punches in Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze and So Saffron, and placed around the envelope, as if you've just opened it and all these hearts have flown out.  I spent a long time playing with these until I was...