Thursday, April 30, 2015

A Sad Day in Guildford



This is the sight of the 18th Century Clandon House which this morning its been confirmed it was damaged by fire 100%.
It nearly two years ago that I spent a lovely day there celebrating Verity and Chris's Wedding and I feel for all the couples who have booked their Wedding to take place there this year and next.
Here's a pic from the Wedding showing what a beautiful house it was, who knows what the future lies for the it now. All the beautiful rooms now gutted.

 

Big Shoes


This was my card I had set for Monday till I publish by mistake at the weekend, Big Shoes from Mo Manning. I have to say she right up there as a favourite don't know what took me so long to use from my pile of coloured images that I had done.
The papers are Simple Stories and my flowers are my favourite EK success retro flower but the tiny ones are Do-crafts again I had them both for agessss. The swirly leaf is MFT die and the corners which are a firm favourite from La La Land and the butterfly is a punch from Kars which wasn't expensive but a perfect size for cards.
Its been a bit of busy week with the Vampire Nurse and Dentist, my poor doctor is ill and the second appointment has been cancelled so I'm still struggling with my shoulders. Mr Virgin is still misbehaving but a lot better than it was and Mr PC is fine as long as I don't turn him off.
We still getting used to a new routine and changing my craft time in segments isn't quite working yet.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Prima


wed-newchallenge-header

Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Thank you for joining us for the Clean and Simple Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too.
We will be back soon with the name of the lucky winner of the $50 Voucher
This week the challenge is

ANYTHING GOES

We are showcasing PRIMA PRODUCTS this week. You don't have to use them to join in but if you have some we would love to see them used
As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

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I'm not too sure whether my card is DT material especially when you're on a team so talented, the trouble was I liked this page and I love the Simon say Stamp Artful flowers and I my head wouldn't move from using both.
The page is from Prima's Bella Rouge paper pack, love that it has everything you would try to stamp on but I did cut the side off to make it a bit more edgy.
To keep the aged look I added the sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Flowers on my Mind and embossed with Ranger Liquid Platinum that came in a previous Simon Says Stamp kit.
I then stamped and die cut my flowers, I then tried some Prima accent beads in yellow but it didn't show up on the red, I tried White Opal Liquid Peals but in the end the Onyx Liquid Pearls worked better, good job I stamped and cut out a few flowers. 
I added a bit twine to give a finished look to the side and had to add some red Liquid Pearls because I felt it needed it.
So now it's YOUR turn.  Happy Crafting
Simon Says Stamp 
You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in
No backlinking allowed, Only 5 new creations will be eligible in the prize draw

Gingham Balloons


The stamp set that Simon Says Stamp very kindly set called Lila's Heart has two girls on, I've used one already so it was only right to use the other girl too.
The papers are Echo Park Sunny Days Ahead and I also used the sketch on Sketch Saturday.
I did have an issue I could work out where to put my sentiment and the ones I wanted to use were quite long so I place it on the side.
Simply had to paper piece my balloons but it does finish of the card nicely.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Sarah Kay


This card took some thinking, the new challenge on Everybody Art Challenge is to use a bookpage preferably not the one someone is reading. I use an e reader, some of the tombs I read are too heavy to hold and the mini e reader is much lighter. Anyway I'm going off topic the book page I've used is some patterned paper that is actually made that way, yes I know I'm cheating a bit but it still has writing on.
I used it has my main mat, distressed it and I added distress and torn patterned paper, making sure that some words are showing.
I used a Sarah Kay stamp inside a floral oval which I cut out the centre to make a frame. My biggest mistake of course there is one is the flower I decided I didn't like but had made the hole for the pearl brad so there it had to stay.
I didn't want to use a sentiment because I felt it could work for more than just a Birthday but that meant a large empty space next to the image so I used the Ivy die from Sue Wilson. Oh I forget to mention my lace and ribbon, have now.
Do pop over and check out the team also hope you can join us.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Little Punk


Pants this card was meant for a challenge but I tried to edit the draft on a tablet which I hadn't a clue what I was doing and it published. I quickly deleted but the post had already found its way over on FB where friends liked and commented. The challenge is a fairly easy one so I will have to make another luckily I'm a bit in advance so I will have time.
The image is called Little Punk and she is of course a Mo Manning image. She has been in my coloured image pile for sometime and the loose sheets of papers are stored with her but now I don't know whose they were. I still feel Mr Mojo is like Mr Virgin at the moment one minute here the next gone for ages. So I better get a move on a post this before he disappears for hours again.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Proud Mummy


Another layout using the fabulous photos of my Gt Nephews Christening and another play on words using A Proud Mummy which applies to both his Mum and Grandma.
I've used the Simon Says Stamp Flowers on almost all the Christening layouts and the pocket pages I've done so far, so that although they in an ordinary album the flowers will show they all belong together.
Not sure on the liquid pearls dots all over the white space, it looks better in RL
Fingers crossed I might try to catch up on my blogs today just when you have a bit time Mr Virgin plays up. He keeps upping and leaving for hours at time and then when you backs turn he returns to tempt you thinking its back up and running.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Lily


A bit different than my usual Penny Black card this morning but this is a slapstick stamp called Tiger Lily and I used copic pens to colour. I do find their caps slightly easier than Promarkers and Spectrum pens but I would only colour one image with not too many colour changes so for the flower I managed OK.
I decided that I wanted the lily to pop out of a circle and I made the stitched circle frame using Simon Says Stamps Stitched Circles it times like these I think I should have brought a magnetic plate but on the second attempt I cut a frame that I was happy with.
I found the right coloured patterned card in a Taylor Expression pack just to give a finishing edge to the whole card and I cut the Simon Say Stamp Wishing die twice to stick together, if I was using white I would perhaps cut out three times.
I always decide on the sentiment last when everything is stuck and almost finish, big mistake to then try and actual stamp on something thats been raised by sticky fixers which is why there is a fishtail banner hiding the mess underneath.
I haven't been able to link any more supplies because Mr Virgin is only working now and again and I want to post this before he disappears again.

Friday, April 24, 2015

You Have My Heart


You may have noticed there wasn't a card this morning but I have made one in the mean time. I was lucky enough for Simon Says Stamp to send me one of their new releases Falling into You. They sent me Lila's Heart stamp set, you can also get the dies.
I thought I would be clever and use the falling hearts stencil but my pale pink doesn't show up well, there's a whole set of background stamps which is sitting in my cart waiting for my craft pennies to add up so please leave me a set.
The patterned papers is Simple Stories I am and I used the Small Heart Doily and the tiny heart is Holiday Shapes. If you pop over to Simon Says Stamp Blog I believe there's a MEGA BLOG HOP with the new release.
Now really I should of been making a Penny Black card for tomorrow but who can resist new stamps, its OK I have made a card for tomorrow.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Boat Boy


This is about my limit of making cards at the moment clean and simple. I quite liked the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches the other week but only had time to use it now. Since the image mat is at an angle I always try to cut it so the image is actually straight. Of course the camera isn't helping much but that is the finished look.
The cloud papers is LOTV along with the boy image and the waves are MFT with a bit of Doodlbug twine to bring in the red colour for his boat. The sentiment is permanently on my desk and I've no idea now whose it was now and I stamped it in a postition that if I made a mess of it I could easily make a fishtail banner to hide it.
My routine is changing although I said when hubby retired he would have to fit in with me but he's working evenings so we changed things around. We are doing more in the day together and when he goes to work I try to make a card or two. But it also means later mornings so I must try to remember to schedule my posts to catch the early risers.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Hero Arts

wed-newchallenge-header

Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Thank you for joining us for the Make Your Own Background Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too.
We will be back soon with the name of the lucky winner of the $50 Voucher
This week the challenge is

CLEAN AND SIMPLE

We are showcasing HERO ARTS PRODUCTS  this week. You don't have to use them to join in but if you have some we would love to see them used
As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store
50dollar_voucher_600px

When I checked Simon says Stamp shop to make sure the Hero Art Antique Engravings stamps were there they were still in stock as luck would have it they are now out of stock. But to be honest there are loads of butterflies that are very similar but different wing patterns in the shop. This was the search I did hopefully the link will work. Do like the look of the Tim Holtz and the Clearly Besotted ones you can never have too many butterflies stamps.
I actually used copics to colour my butterflies not my best idea since I've been struggling with shoulders but the depth of colour is very striking against the white.
Wasn't sure how to use my butterflies but decided to go with some favourites like the Simon says Stamp Cluster of Leaves just inked a little green round the the leaves. The card was quite plain at this point so I used a scoring board to make my embossed lines. I first made a line where I wanted the lines to end then turned the card and made the rest with one final score over the first line I made. Now all it needed was a sentiment and I used Simon Says Stamp Birthday Message and made a fishtail banner with a square punch.


This was actually my first card but I thought it would be too plain just using on the butterflies but thought it would be nice to show anyway. The oval is the Floral Oval from Spellbinders and although the camera didn't pick it up well I blended some ink in the centre before taking the die off the card. I used It's Your Birthday sentiments for the sentiment.
The Onyx liquid pearls I got out of a Card Kit but you can buy it anyway here, the paper is Kaiser.

So now it's YOUR turn.  Happy Crafting
Simon Says Stamp 
You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in
No backlinking allowed, Only 5 new creations will be eligible in the prize draw


Alien


 It's suppose to be a bunny but I've been informed it looks more like an Alien, may have to put him down to being a bit of a failure. I'm making a turtle at the moment it will be interesting to see if he turns out OK.


We are going to have a couple of weeks with no flying visits, MIL is doing well can't believe how far she has come we nearly lost her at least twice. But its been decided she can't go home and due to her old health problems and new she will need to go into a care home unfortunately she also needs nursing care and there are not too many of these ones so she's bed blocking at the moment.
To be honest I'm struggling at the moment my shoulders have decided to have a complete hissy and painkillers, heat pads are the order of the day. I did manage to make a card but not sure thats going to happen every day.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Waiting for Rain


Since I never know how I'm feeling when we return from MIL I decided to schedule my Everybody Art Challenge card and this week its a sketch. Yes I know I cheated a bit my clouds replace one of the mats, a bit of artistic licence.

My papers are LOTV and I used Mo's Waiting for Rain image, her raincoat cried out to be paper pieced. Originally I used the white paper with the flowers on but it didn't show up well so I had to start again using the white daisies paper worked out much better.
Yep that Upsy Daisy flowers from MFT again and the fence is from the same company really do need to try and be a bit more originally. Oh dear my clouds are MFT but I have used the two smaller clouds of the three that the die cuts.
Do pop over and check the team, also hope you can join us this week.


Monday, April 20, 2015

For Mr KCS


I had made my BIL his card using random numbers but he sponsors football team at the one of the Leisure Centre his company cleans. They are mainly made up with lifeguards that work there. The first year they actually made it to the final, I remember it well, we all turned up and it was flipping freezing I said if I had to go again I was bringing my duvet. Luckily that didn't happen till this year and I was coming back from the Craft Retreat so wasn't up to going which is typical because they won!



Without being rude my BIL is the old guy holding the cup! I decided to change his card to the one above. I've used Dr Digi Mr Dumberton since I think next year he should join them.
Not sure on the papers I think they could be Echo Park but the number border is a new die but I cut it out a couple of times in different coloured papers and cut out a few of the numbers.
Fence is MFT and I made the rosette with various punches but the word champ was computer generated although the sentiment is a Simon Says Stamp. And it simply wouldn't be right not to add glossy accents to his glasses.
Hopefully BIL had a good Birthday no doubt I will hear all about it when he comes home from his holiday.


Sunday, April 19, 2015

Christening pocket pages


I've made some Christening layouts but still had loads of pics I wanted to use so once again I've made a couple of Pocket Pages. Although I'm kicking myself because for some reason I thought Love pocket was a large one instead its two and I had to cut my foam word in half to fit.
The words are Kaiser, the flower is Simon Says Stamp and the Cross is Cottage Cutz die. Celebrate is a Penny Black word die and the grass on the cross is MFT.


Again the flowers are Simon Says Stamp and words are Kaiser, the teapot and cup are MFT the swirl is too. The cutlery I found in a box of odds and ends, I should in theory painted these white but they I think I can get away with doing nothing with them, well I have to now they're truly stuck now.
Coloured letters are out of pot of excess letters I keep when cutting with alphabet dies and the black stickers are some tiny letters I've had for ages.
The photos may look crooked but I have taken them out of their pockets to photo they alway look clearer this way but they are now back safe and sound in their correct place.
I think there is another set of Pocket Pages waiting to be done for the Christening and then I need to look at the Harry Potter photos to decide how I want to scrap them.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Other Half


So here's the other half of the stamp from last week, you can see now that I had cut them in the wrong place and it would be far better to have just the two bunnies talking to each other. Instead of which you have a bunnie trying to pretend his not there so he doesn't feel like a gooseberry.
Now I'm pretty certain this is a sketch but has my image wasn't has long as it should be I had moved the fishtail banners from under the image to the side to make use of all the clean space.
My large flower is Upsy Daisy from MFT with CC Designs leaf.
I'm trying today to make a couple of DT cards since I'm not sure how I will be feeling after the flying visit to MIL tomorrow and also I'm hoping for an injection in each on my shoulders at the doctors on Wednesday never sure how they react but know its worth it in the end.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Mojo Foxy


Now I have had this cute foxy die from Taylors Expression for a while. He is on the small side but works for an A5 card and add the Mojo Monday Sketch for this week and he fits right in the circle mat.
The papers are Doodlbug but I do feel I've used two different packs here Hello Sunshine and Sugar Shoppe.
My little bit of grass is a MFT grass die.
Even with some brads out of my very large stash of brads the card still felt something missing so I added the clouds and the kite from the Simon say Stamp Lets go fly a Kite.
The sentiment which not crooked even though it looks it is from the same Simon Says Stamp set has the kite and clouds.
Off to swimming this morning and even though the sun is shining the warm temperatures have slipped a bit so no sunning myself with my e-reader this afternoon maybe I'll actually make a card this afternoon.




Thursday, April 16, 2015

Flowers Blog Hop


Its my turn to chose a theme for this months Dream Team Blog Hop and I chose flowers. Really my image doesn't have a lot of flowers just a little tulip that the little darling is watering. Now my cute image is called April very apt for this hop and you can find her in Mo's shop.
My papers are from LOTV and the individual flowers are punched with an EK Success punch but I coloured them with copics to match the Memory Box border. Which I cut out in white and again coloured in with copics and several fingers too.
The sketch is last weeks Sweet Wednesday sketch but I'm a couple days late but love that it inspired the card.

I'm the start of the BLOG HOP so now to continue the hop you need HOP, SKIP and JUMP over to Heidy's Blog
sorry folks I linked to Julie by mistake but link it OK now.
Don't forget to comment along the way for a chance to win one of the two vouchers to spend in Mo's Shop
If you get lost pop over to the Dream Team Blog where the whole blog hop run is shown.


Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Make you Own Background


wed-newchallenge-header

Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Thank you for joining us for the April Showers/Spring Flowers Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too.
We will be back soon with the name of the lucky winner of the $50 Voucher
This week the challenge is

MAKE YOUR OWN BACKGROUND

We are showcasing MY FAVORITE THINGS PRODUCTS this week. You don't have to use them to join in but if you have some we would love to see them used
As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store
50dollar_voucher_600px


I have decided that this is one of those cards that look better in real life. It is a busy card but the camera seems to make it even more busy.
I used the MFT Four Corners set but I only used one of the corner to make my background, to be honest I picked the wrong one there was a larger one of the set that I planned to use but picked up this one instead.
It would have meant less to cut out.
Any way I place double side tape to the back of the card I was using so I only had to peel it off and stick the corner. The card mat was a bit bigger than I need so I could cut down to size and therefore have a neater finish.
I then used the Simon says Stamp Stitched Rectangles to make my frame and used the Simon Says Stamp Calliope Flourish. Now when I took the Stretch Your Dies one of the classes cut down the flowers to add on top of each other. I tried it, look pants so I decided to use the smaller flowers to add to the larger flowers.
To finish I used the Simon says Stamp Dies and Stamps Wishing set, I did layer the Wishing possibly three times altogether to help it stand out more in all that white. Some pearls to finish out of my stash job done.

So now it's YOUR turn.  Happy Crafting
Simon Says Stamp 
You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in
No backlinking allowed, Only 5 new creations will be eligible in the prize draw

Wisley


I have quite a few pages of Scrapbooking in my drafts and I know if I was showing one a week that I'm probably behind so I thought I would show some while waiting for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.
This is a double layout which I tried to do in the Pocket Pages style without the pockets. It did mean I could decide what size photos and mats.


The papers are Crate Papers some really old ones that I've been sitting on for years. The Ivy die from Sue Wilson and the tiny flowers are punched from Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch.


The Bullrush reeds and Fireflies dies are from Impression Obession, the letters are some old chipboard again I've had for soooooo long.
Since my heart was really into making these pages they turned out OK.
See you at 2pm