A couple of cards

Made these cards yesterday - found them extremely hard to do so I am a bit worried that my scrappers block is now fast becoming cardmakers block!  However I do quite fancy doing a layout later so maybe its not all bad!

We have just had a new addition to our family so this card is for him (don't know his name yet!).

It looks quite plain and simple but believe me it took me about four hours most of which was spent faffing about choosing the papers and inks!  It is based on Claudia Rosa's sketch here http://www.fridaysketchersblog.blogspot.com/ and although I have left it quite plain (in case I have post it) I would like to enter it into their challenge.  The blue baby boy paper is by Deja Views but I am unsure of the car paper manufacturer as it is an offcut that I haven't been able to throw away!  Stamps are Martha Stewart and Stampin Up, the tag is a Baby Boy one from K & Co which says "Special Delivery" on it, metal heart was from Hobbycrafts.  I also used Bundled Sage Distress Ink and Pearlescent Sky Blue Brilliance Ink and green bazzill cardstock.

This card is for my inlaws anniversary which is next Sunday (same day as my parents anniversary too!) hopefully its not too cute for them:

Have been able to put flowers on this as I will be hand delivering it to them.  It's based on the sketch at http://www.create4fun-challenge.blogspot.com/ so I would like to enter it into that challenge and also, even though it's anniversary card to both of them, I would like to enter it into the http://www.delightfulsketches.blogspot.com/ challenge which is girly with pearls and lace.

I am unsure of the make of papers but they might be DCWV, I also used nestability dies, a martha stewart border punch, lace, a doily, Spun Sugar distress ink and various flowers from my stash.  It also has a fair amount of gold glimmer mist on it but you can't tell from the photo.

Thanks for looking :)

Its Christmas soon!

Thought I better get on with preparing some Christmas card classes so here is my first one:

This is based on the sketch at http://www.sweetsketchwednesday.blogspot.com/ so I would like to enter it into their challenge.

Here is the inside of the card:

Its not really photographed at the right angle but due to the poor lighting today I had to open it out flat on my desk.  It uses a new Karen Burniston sizzix die - a 3D pop up one - so that when you open out the card the middle greeting swivels around - I have put the white nestie label to the right so that I can write a greeting on the inside of the card rather than on the back.  Also uses My Minds Eye paper, punched snowflakes, various Christmas/Swirl stamps, Flower Soft, glitter, candy striped thread and a handmade snowman.

Thanks for looking and check out the website http://www.whathousework.co.uk/ for details of our next few workshops. 

WOYWW 63

Late for this today, we have had a few days away in Bristol so have only just got back home - as nothing much has happened on my desk in the past week (and yes its still as tidy as last week too!) I thought I would show you what sits behind my desk:

There are nine drawers, one full of sizzix dies, one full of UTEE, fimo and masks, two full of chipboard (I know and I am sure I will get around to using it one day!), one is begrudgingly used by my OH (the cheek of it!), one is full of school drawings, one full of photos, and two are full of holiday memorabilia.  The four drawer stack on the lhs has all my 12 x 12 papers and some alphabets in, the paper trays next to them are all my cardstock (colour coordinated of course!) and then the A4 trays are full of anything A4 such as card, shrink plastic, paper bags etc.  That basket on the right is full of flowers and the box files are actually for school stuff that I need to hand or want to keep.  On top of the four drawer stack are 7 pizza boxes and 2 paper boxes which are full of stuff I am working on, completed layouts that need filing, classes I am holding or have been on and such like.  Ok am now off to see what desks I can get around now - OH is off for the next two days too though so we might be out and about if the weather stays nice so again I might not visit you all - managed 90 last week though so it was an improvement!

If you would like to join in the desk fun please visit Julias blog at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

Thanks for looking :)

Anniversary Card

Just another quick post (two on the same day - unheard of for me!) - have made an anniversary card for my sister in law and her husband as its their 20th Anniversary next week.  I followed the sketch at http://www.cardpatterns.blogspot.com/ so I would like to enter this in to their challenge this week:

Papers, stamp and chipboard are Prima, bazzill cardstock, martha stewart punch and I added some flowers, punched leaves and bling and, of course, worn lipstick and bundled sage distress inks were also used.

Thanks for looking :)

A play day

Found myself with some spare time yesterday morning and as I still have scrappers block (havent been able to get the enthusiasm together to create a layout for about six months now!), I thought I would have a play and I was inspired to finally make some concertina layered flowers.  Have been meaning to make a concertina flower for such a long time now as they make great embellishments but have never gotten around to it.  But then whilst doing the rounds on WOYWW rounds on Wednesday I came across Mary Anne's site http://scrappystickyinkymess.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/woyww-1182010/ where she has made the same flower but edges it with a punch, and that just gave me the push I needed to sit down and finally have a go!

whilst I didnt sit and watch the video or have a martha stewart board I did use the idea of the punch around the edge.  I cut a strip of cardstock 10" x 1.25", inked the edges with either broken china or chipped sapphire and punched along the edge with a martha stewart punch.  Then I scored along the long length every .25" and folded the piece into a circle concertina style, I joined the two edges with a few staples as tape didnt hold it and then stuck the whole thing down onto a sizzixed circle to hold its shape.  Then on top I mounted either a dark blue or white crepe paper flower with the edges finished with stickles and then a ribbon flower finished with a button.  They have come out fairly big, the two smaller ones are just over 3" in diameter and the larger one (using a 12" x 1.5" strip of card) is almost 3.75" in diameter - so these will probably be used on layouts if and when my scrappers block finally comes to an end!

I then also continued with my mammoth organising session (at least its turning into a mammoth session - I only started off by doing a distress ink tag swatch!).  Anyway here are some more tag swatches - the first is all my texture, cuttlebug and sizzix plates: 

Oh and a texture plate on acetate too there - not sure what I am going to do with that yet!

and a glimmer mist tag swatch.

These swatches are great - I just attach them to my little pen holder thingy and take them with me wherever I go then I just have a quick flick through and decide on what colour I need to use - the names/colours of each are written on the back for easy reference.  Just need to do one for stickles and possibly paints now.  Such fun!

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW 62

Well I have had a tidy up!

Hope you are all impressed!  Nothing much on my desk as I went scrapping at a friends house yesterday so all my clutter is in a bag and in my bucket.  Card to the left is what is left over from the Alice card I starting making a couple of posts down, knitting pattern is for some flowers I am going to have a go at and the bit of mountboard and envelope, well they are just there.  See how nicely my new promarker storage fits on the desk under the shelf - am still very pleased with myself about that! and you can just see the corner of my new glimmer mist box (post below) there too and the little set of tags that I have made with all my glimmer mists, colour wash etc sprayed on.  The square plastic storage box holds nestability dies that I share with Morag - this time its my turn to have the square box and she has the long box - means we can have twice as many nesties when we share and as we only live over the road from one another its easy to swap and change if need be.

Thats it from me this week - hope to get around to more of you this week, last week I again only managed about 60 but children have a football day tomorrow so I should have more time on my hands although the house is in a bit of tip.....

If you would like to join in the fun pop over to Julias - http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/.

Thanks for looking and for all your comments :)

Another box!

Just couldn't help myself:

the lid - do you like the crepe flower under the prima one?  see I did get to use them after all!

Box front - couldnt resist doing another crepe paper flower and a little journey bunting - so cute - made it using a quickutz tag die and alphabet stamps and my new addiction - candy striped string.

The sides (both are the same)

The back - left this a bit plain as I will not really get chance to look at it as the box will be kept on my desk!

an arty aerial view which isnt really that arty with my desk in the background! - lid looks a bit bent now though although it doesnt look too bad in real life - might bend it back into shape if I can - if you hear a scream it all went horribly wrong!

Used scattered straw, antique linen and tea dye distress ink to blend and stamp, Lavinia, Paperartsy, and Crafty Individuals stamps, Prima flowers, Crepe paper, Leaf punch, candy string, dyed some white ribbon with tea dye ink to match, Tim's birdcage die with gold embossing powder, old book pages, a doily, sequin waste and some bling.

Hope you like it - box is 6" x 6" square and stores my glimmer mists!

I am going to enter this into a couple of challenges:

http://www.dutchdare-cardchallenges.blogspot.com/ whose theme is "anything goes"

http://creativeinspirationschallenge.blogspot.com/ whose theme is "recycle element on project" - I am hoping that sequin waste, dyed ribbon and a doily count as recycled elements here although I have to admit that the doily is new and hasnt had a coffee cup or glass of wine anywhere near it!

Thanks for looking :)

Cathys card

Here is a card I have made for my friend and her birthday isnt until 19th August - I am so ahead of myself!  mind you I have a pile of other things to make and do which I am running behind on so nothing has changed really!

This is based on the sketch at http://www.fridaysketchersblog.blogspot.com/ so I would like to enter it into their challenge.  Have used bazzill card stock inked with broken china, tumbled glass and shabby shutters.  The cuttlebug used is their timeworks one, Alice and script stamps are non sequitor, oval nesties, martha stewart punch, butterfly is inkadinkadoo, flowers are prima and hot fix bling.

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW 61

Hmmmm not much to say really is there!

The Alice card half finished on the left hand side is for a friend who's birthday it is on the 19th August - how ahead am I!! although yes lets be honest I started it last Friday and this was the state of my desk on Sunday when I last scrapped so chances are I will miss the sketch challenge its based on this Friday and also be in a mad panic to complete the card in time anyway - I have decided that its actually not her colours so I am redoing the same stuff on the green and blue pieces in front of it but obviously with the children been off I have been waylaid again.  Also its only 3 more sleeps to our Scrapping Escape which is this Saturday - kits are all packed, food ordered, just need to run through my instructions now and I will be good to go - so thats been keeping me busy this week too.  Thank you everyone for asking about my ankle, its actually much better this week although my hip hurts a bit now - probably because I am hobbling about but I am now much more mobile!

I only managed about 60 desks last week - sorry about that - but will try harder this week!  If you want to know what all this is about go to http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

Thanks for looking :)

My new promarkers storage

Made this a couple of weeks ago to keep my promarkers in - mainly because before I had them in little pencil cases and a lovely spotty suitcase and my OH kept moaning that I was noisy when colouring in as I had to rummage for the right colour (and of course I usually colour in on an evening sitting in front of the TV) - so I came up with this idea - the unit fits on my desk nicely and can also be carried around the house if need be:

Here are a couple of close ups:

The blue and green sections

The pink and grey sections

The orange and yellow sections

As you can see I have done 7 different coloured sections to store each main colour set that I have.  All the flowers are handmade (again using Tims Tattered Flower die - I just cant get enough of them can I!)  and lots of stamping and glitter used too.  I matched each section with a coordinating ribbon that went with the two colour ways on either side.  At the moment I have held the bottom together with the new gorgeous candy striped string I seem to keep having to use (have blue, red and brown now!) although I might actually change this and make some coordinating ribbons using distress inks at a later date.

The pen holder is based on the bind it all box that is in their little handout - I have just extended it to make extra sections - the bottom piece is actually one long piece 4" x 28" but as it is so light (even with the pens in) its still convenient for me - although if you were to make your own you could always do a square box. 

The only downside to this is that now my OH can actually see just how many promarkers I have managed to acquire!

Thanks for looking :)