Christmas Panic

I'm beginning to get in to Christmas panic mode!  As ever, I'm behind with my preparations and although I have been busy stamping images and colouring them with my new promarkers (they ARE lovely), I only got around to making them into Christmas cards yesterday.  This photo shows just a few of the ones I finished but there were about 40 altogether.  This coming week is the last week of term and it's very busy at school, I think we have a concert every day but if I get chance I will upload some more pictures so you can see the images more clearly.

AWOL

April?! APRIL!!! Where have I been?
An awful lot has been going on in my life over the last few months and the blog has taken a back seat sadly, hopefully that will begin to change now.

I have BIG news! about 3 weeks ago now I signed up with Amanda to become an Independant Stampin Up demonstrator!! Exciting times :O) I spend a lot of money with Stampin Up cos I just lurve their products so it made sense to sign up and share that love and excitement with lots of other people. I'm still going to Amanda's workshops so I have lots of cards to show off. I'll get uploading now shall I ?

Remember this one ?

this is a card I made a little while back, the paper I used was part of a free gift from Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine. I sent in this photo to the magazine to show what I had made with the gift and they published it in the Readers Gallery this month!!!! You could have knocked me down with a feather when I opened the letter informing me I had won a prize of a stamp set for my efforts.
Well chuffed :O)

Workshop makes

I had a great day out at the Hobbycraft show at the NEC at the end of last month and I managed to book myself in to a couple of workshops while I was there. The first one I did was with Stephanie Weightman of Create and Craft TV fame where we made this pink rose stepper card. I love the image and it really is a quick and easy make, just assembling the pieces in the right order. The other workshop was with Lisa B where we made this beautiful tag using masking techniques and distress inks. The stamped image is embossed and painted and then some glitter for added bling. I'm going to mount the tag onto a card I think and add some ribbon.

Happy Birthday!

Another birthday card, this one destined for the postbox for a friend of mine. Again I watercoloured a stamoped image and layered it onto Bazzil cardstock, with a little more imagination this time I think, adding diamonds and squares into the mix. A touch of glitter and a ribbon to finish off.

Cheeky Girl

Oops! been nearly a month since I last blogged :S well on this blog anyway; I have been blogging on www.4thhestonlejog.blogspot.com
Anyhow, here is a cheeky little lady! I watercoloured the stamped image and layered her onto orange and yellow bazzil cardstock and attached the tag to the card with a brad. Backed onto a pretty plaid paper and a stamped message added to the bottom. Oh and a dash of glitter to add some bling :O)

Wishy washy ?

I'm still not sure about this one. It's the same House Mouse image that I used the other day but in pale pink tones this time and I'm not sure that it isn't a little too pale. I matted it with silver mirri, as is my wont, onto a background paper of pale pink candy stripe.

Full to bursting!

Another new House Mouse stamp that I bought at the Farnborough Make It show last weekend. Sooooo cute! Stamped with staz-on ink and watercoloured then matted onto some coordinating blue paper and silver mirri card. Mmm might have to go do another :O)

Birthday girl

I made this card for a friends daughter who turned seventeen this week. The glamourous lady is a decoupaged image which I matted onto a black dl card for a dramatic look. I added the greeting with the hot foil pen and also used it to write my message inside.

Mouse afloat!

Here's the first one! Housemouse afloat in his nutshell awww. Stamped in timber brown stazon and watercoloured, matted onto a coordinating paper which has a print of tiny green leaves, but you can't see them very well in this photo. An edging of mirri card for accent and a ribbon sash to finish.

Ready to go

These are two of the stamps I bought at the Make It show at Farnborough this weekend. I just adore Housemouse he is sooo cute. I stamped him with timber brown staz-on and watercoloured the images so they are all ready for mounting on cards during the week :O)

"Love your Stamps"

... that's what the workshop where I made this card was called. I went to the Make It craft show at Farnborough today. I usually try and do a workshop while I'm there and this one quite appealed as it was aiming to get you to look at all your stamps in new ways. We all have stamps that love when we buy them, use them a few times and then put them away never to be seen again. On this card the bear from Penny Black was stamped onto white card and then twice more onto brown bazzil card stock. The butterflies in the image were painted and the brown bears cut out and 3D'd with foam pads. We matted the background paper onto coordinating card and tied a ribbon round before attaching it to the card. The flowers were punched out of remaining paper and we used an embossing tool to give them some shape adding a self adhesive gem for the flower centres. I'm quite pleased with the result, a design I shall use again I think. :O)

Flying Visit

I was about to begin uploading some more photos but apparently I'm off out to dinner at my favourite restaurant!! Who am I to argue? :O)
I'll just stop long enough to wish my hubby a Happy 19th Anniversary and maybe I will get back later on to post something pretty.

New Leaf

I have obviously turned over a new leaf this year, I've blogged nearly every day!!! Tho I have to confess this one is a bit of a cheat as I haven't any photos today.
Well, what a weekend!! I went down to Southampton on Saturday to attend a Stampin Up workshop. Amanda had us creating 25 pages in one day - it was brilliant! All the pages are very different and each double page spread is intended for a different month of the year; all I have to do now is add my photos. As soon as I have I will post them here for posterity!
I'm off now to make a card for my husband as it's our 19th anniversary tomorrow :O)

A lilac promise of summer

I definitely had a lilac moment with this one didn't I!! The image is from Stampin Up and is such a beautiful promise of summer to come, I stamped it with a Staz on pad and watercoloured the image. I backed the card with a lilac paper from that winnie the pooh kit but the image needed something more. I found a piece of handmade paper and feathered the edges by wetting and tearing.

Blue Goose

Remeber that Goose image from a couple of weeks ago ? I used her again today, she reminds me of that range of kitchenware so I used a blue gingham backing paper which also reminds me of that range. The image was stamped with Staz-on and watercoloured as before. Then I backed it with mirri card and an accent of plain clue card. A ribbon sash down the spine to complete.

Christmas in February ?!

No, I've not gone mad, not just yet anyway. Tomorrow I am going down to Southampton to attend a Stampin Up scrapbook workshop, I can't wait (I'm a bit excited can you tell ?!). As I was getting my bag ready with my glues and paper trimmer etc I realised that I hadn't blogged the cards that I made at the last workshop of Amanda's I went to, which is the christmas before last! Like tomorrows it was an all day workshop and we made several Christmas cards, two of which you can see here. Included in the price of the workshop was the stamp set that we used to make the cards, in this case Snowflakes; and Amanda showed us several techiniques to use them and produce the most beautiful cards. All the items used were Stampin Up products from the card and papers to the ribbon accents and glitter. In the bottom card the snowflake disk is suspended on thread in the aperture so that it spins.
I had such a great time that day, spending quality crafting time with likeminded friends I can't wait for tomorrow. A whole day scrapping and I get to make and bring home 25 pages ready for my photos and a scrapbook to put them in. I'll gradually post the results here over the next few days.

Cake!

looks yummy doesn't it! I stamped the cupcake with a staz on pad and watercoloured it. I then mounted the image onto mirri card and added three peel off greetings, why I did that I shall never know! it's hard enough to line one up straight let alone three!!!

Many Happy Returns

Apologies for the poor photo, the mirri card has reflected and I couldn't get a better one. Another of those fairy tags today, mounted onto a silver card. I added the peeloff greeting on a piece of mirri card so all in all its very shiny!

Fairy tags.

Another offering from the Flower fairy tags. This time I added a greeting too.

Simply Pooh!

There are just a few images left now from that Pooh kit so I thought I would use up another today. This is just Pooh by himself looking a little thoughtful I think. A very simple card, I just matted and layered the image onto coordinating papers and mirri card and centred it onto one of my favourite silver card blanks.

Flower Fairy

In this months Cards and Papercraft magazine the free gift was some beautiful Flower Fairy tags. I just adore the Flower Fairies so I couldn't wait to use them. This one is simply backed with a coordinating paper and highlighted with some mirri card. It's missing something but I'm not quite sure what yet.

Piglet in Pink

Another offering from that Disney kit. Piglet this time layered onto mirri card and backed with pink coordinating papers and a peel off greeting.

More Winnie

Back to those silver cards again and another Winnie the Pooh image. Very simple this time, I took a piece of handmade paper and distressed the edges, laid the image on top and placed it in the centre of the card. A silver peel off greeting to finish it off.

Peek a Boo

That's what I think these guys are playing today! Another card from that QVC kit, it's nearly used up now! As before I used a square base card and matted two layers of coordinating papers. The Disney image I matted onto matching blue paper and then onto mirri card. A peel-off greeting completes the card.

Four Bear

I decided to have a dig through my stash last weekend and rediscovered this Winnie the Pooh kit. It was one of the first kits I bought from QVC and I've made many cards from it. I began with a square card base and matted two squares of coordinating papers. Then I added the four Disney images on 3d foam in the centre.