Simple things please simple minds......!

I've become a little addicted to the Splitcoast Stampers website recently and have spent literally hours going through all of the beautiful creations in the gallery. Despite my love of fairly bold and loud cards, I've been really drawn to the really simple cards that I have seen in the SCS gallery. So, I decided to give it a go myself......

I've made this card for the daughter of a friend at work. She has been through a hell of a lot in the last couple of years but despite all this, is due to graduate from uni this summer AND has just bagged herself a super-dooper graduate job. As we've kind of been through all of the trials and tribulations with her, I thought it would be nice to give her a congratulations card from our office.

For this card, I used Pink Petticoat random dots paper in 'Olive'. After somehow convincing myself that I had a martini glass stamp, I realised I definately didn't after 30 minutes of searching! So, I downloaded a clipart image which I then colour matched to the PP paper. I teamed this with a computer generated sentiment and some Poppicrafts ribbon.

I have to say, I really enjoyed working in this 'simple' style. What was especially nice was that it was super quick to make - great for a last minute make. I fear you may be seeing more of these....!

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Stamp Something Challenge #7

Crikey, I think I've gone for chocolate overkill on this one..... Too chocolately?! Hmm.... the jury is still out I'm afraid!

So, this is my entry for challenge 7 on the Stamp Something blog. The papers are chocolate, dark chocolate and mocha Pink Petticoat downloads and the gingham ribbon is from my stash. The stamp is a Changito that I received from Sheila in our recent SBS16 image swap - thanks Sheila! I've coloured the image with watercolour pencil and highlighted the centre of the flowers with Frosted Lace Stickles.

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Friday Sketchers Week #7 & Caardvarks 'Think Pink'

After an incredibly busy week at work, I've been having such a great weekend! I've done nothing except craft and play! If only life was always so free and easy eh?!

This the first card that I made this weekend and it is a combination of 2 challenges - week 7 of the Friday Sketchers challenge and Caardvarks 'Think Pink'.

After making my card organiser last week, I've been left with lots of off-cuts of polka-dot paper. So, thought I'd be good and start using them up! I've had this Parisabella for quite a while but this is the first card I have actually made with her. She's so cute, I feel terrible for neglecting her for so long now! Bella is coloured with Whisper pens and the card is finished with ribbon and some Prima flowers. Oops, just realised I've gone a bit 'P' crazy - Pink Petticoat, Parisabella, Poppicrafts, Prima and Polka-dots, not to mention that the whole thing is Pink!

Hope you like her!

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Card Organiser

Phew, what a week?! It's been crazy at work as we've had all of our exam boards this week. All of my students are now fretting anxiously as to whether they have managed to get their longed for 2:1's or a 2:2. They haven't got too much longer to wait as they find out tomorrow at 3pm. Even still, you wouldn't believe how many bribes have I been offered today!

Anyway, I've been short of crafting time (and energy!) lately but I have a week and a half off from 2nd July onwards (my birthday - YIPPEE!) and I am hoping to get stuck back in then. Also hoping to have some nice crafty pressies to play with! What perfectly timed holiday eh?!

During my holiday, I need to make all of the bits and pieces for my Secret Sister Swap that we are running in our SBS16 group. The idea is to spend $15-$20 on a gift(s) and then to include lots of homemade/altered items. The lady who is receiving my goodies is so incredibly talented that I figured I could do with some practice so that she isn't completely disappointed when she receives my package! So, I hit the resources section of the wonderful Splitcoast Stampers and found a great little starter project - a card organiser.

So here it is! As you can see, there is a page for each month with space to write a list of birthdays. In addition, there is a built-in pocket for the cards made each month. The papers are Pink Petticoat Big Dots and I have to say, I am totally in love with them! So fab to work with and they come in virtually every colour under the sun. I was slightly hindered in this project as I don't have a Bind it All machine and so had to rely on a lowly single punch to make the binding holes. However, I enjoyed making this so much that, after my birthday Cuttlebug, a Bind it All is going to be the next big purchase on my list. Overall, I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I think the only thing I might do is to swap the binding rings for slightly smaller ones. I settled on these because they were the smallest I could find at the time. However, in hindsight, I think I should have hung on for some dinkier ones.... If you fancy having a go at this project, you can find the template and all the info you will need here.

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Rubber Romance - Julia Loves to Read

Sorry I've not been around so much this week, it's really busy at work at the moment and I've been a bit too tired to do much card making. I have still been doing a little bit of crafting though as I've been making a Card Organiser which, I'm pleased to say, is nearly finished! I'm just waiting for some binder rings to arrive in the post and then I will then share it with you. All I can say so far is: I love the Pink Petticoat Big Dots papers!

I did however manage to make a card today though and here is......

I've had this Rubber Romance image for a while but as I've mentioned before, despite loving them, I always find them a little tricky to work with. I've been determined to persevere though and I'm glad I have as I really like how this card has turned out! The papers are from a free download called 'Tuscany' and I have paper pieced the image with them so that it tied into the background perfectly. I rest of the image is coloured with a mixture of watercolour pens and pencil. Although you can't really see from the picture, the image is then mounted on 3D pads. I finished the card with some ribbon bows.

Hope you've all enjoyed the weekend!

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Father's Day Card & Stamp Something Challenge

Happy Monday everyone. With Father's Day approaching, I thought that I had better start making my card for my Dad. I decided to make one with a giraffe on it because not only does my Dad like giraffes, he also knows that I absolutely adore them. I figured it was a good connection between the two of us and also showed him immediately who the card was from!

I was a little bit stuck for ideas and so went on to the Splitcoaststampers website and ran a 'giraffe' search in the gallery. I found this little beauty and I totally fell in love with it. Therefore, I really can't take much credit for the card below as it was very heavily inspired by Laura's card!

It's a bit similar huh?! The image is from Scrapnfont's Doodlebat Party Animals set and the paper is DCWV. I added some faux stitching with a fondue fork (who needs a proper paper piercer?!) and some ribbon and buttons from Poppicraft. The sentiment was printed from the computer. Apologies for the slushiness of the sentiment, it's what my Dad used to get me to say to him when I wanted something when I was little. Come to think of it, he still makes me use it now!

P.S. I've just realised that this card fits the latest Stamp Something challenge which is 'Wild'! I think Giraffes can be classed as wild (I couldn't keep one as a pet anyway!), so consider this my entry!

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It Went Right.....First Time!

Just a quick card I made last night for my friend who is leaving us all to go round the world for 6 months with her husband. We are having a girly gathering this weekend to bid her farewell, so I thought it would be the perfect excuse to try out this fab template I found in Papercraft Inspirations magazine.

Mine is a little different from the one featured in the mag as I've changed the colours and papers around and have a different sentiment.

Really pleased with it though and, oddly for me, it went right first time and didn't take me hours and hours to make!

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Dies to Die For Competition - My Big Win

As you know, I recently won the Dies to Die For competition. Well, my parcels have arrived and I thought I'd share their amazing contents with you!



Apologies for not being able to show everything in more detail but there was so much there, I could barely fit it all in the picture!

The AMM tote is absolutely amazing. It comes with a lazy susan (one of those spinning plates that you get in a Chinese restaurant!) which means it will spin effortlessly, giving you access to all your goodies. It has transformed the chaos of my craft space into ordered serenity......for now at least! Other favourites include a stack of Bazzill (inc Bling!) and Doodlebug papers, a High Hopes stamp, some Prima flowers and some of those lovely fluffy feathers. Having said that, the rest of it is absolutely fabulous too - lots and lots of goodies to play with.

Tracy, I cannot thank you enough. Big hugs to you!

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I Rock Their Socks!

I was given this really funky award last week by both Jools and Mand but completely forgot to post it! Thank you both so much - you both Rock My Socks too! When nominating me, Mand said something that really made me smile. She commented that all my cards are wildly different and that she really likes that. Unfortunately, I don't really plan it that way, I just seem to amble from one idea to another without a very clear idea of where I am going! It's a fluke they ever turn out right I think!

So, now for the tricky part.....who to pass it on to?! Well, I am going for Aimee, Beth and Jennifer. All three of these ladies have super-dooper blogs, make sure you pay them a visit sometime soon!

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"Oh What a Night....."

Crikey, what a night indeed. You know I can often be a little bit hard on myself as to whether my creations are 'up to scratch'? Well, last night, I absolutely excelled myself in the 'overly critical' stakes and got myself in a right old state! This is the story........!

Basically, it is my colleagues 50th Birthday today. I'd already decided to steer clear of anything 50 related as she is not exactly pleased about her change in age! I'd found a really great quote from Mark Twain which was totally appropriate. She likes blue, so I was keen to make that the colour scheme and {unfortunately} had a crystal clear view of how I wanted it to look in my head. It was going to be a distressed blue background with HOTP Fold-It Swirl flowers, a scalloped edge oval with the quote in the middle and then all finished with ribbon and some pearl effect brads. All I can say is that it didn't translate to paper at all well! Even Alistair said, "Is that finished? It looks a bit nothing." I was forced to abandon it at 8.30pm last night.

So, I had a bit of a think, came up with another idea and, keeping with the blue theme, I switched tact until 10pm when I realised that I had made a card for a little boy - not a lovely, dainty 50 year old lady!

In a blind panic {and near tears!}, I had a massive rethink and decided to go plain and simple {and maybe a little boring} as I decided that it was better to make that well, than do something adventurous and then mess it up!


So, as you can see above, I went for bright and sunny and overall, although it is a little bland, I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. In fact, it is probably the tidiest card I have ever made - there are no mistakes on it which I've had to cover up! I am also going to employ that old chestnut - it looks better in real life! So, all in all, a very stressful night. But I have realised something, I really do need to stop being so hard on myself. After all, this is a hobby and is supposed to be fun!

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OMG. Wow. How Exciting?!

I'm stunned. Can you believe it?! Look what I've just won............WOW! I'm speechless!

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