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Friday 28 November 2014

Robot card for Jack

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you've managed to get some crafty Black Friday bargains - I haven't due to lack of funds (we've only bought TWO Christmas presents so far - eek!!) but I've been drooling over all the bargains out there.

To distract me from all the stuff I can't afford to buy I've been looking through my crafty stash and have used a few things that I've had for a while but haven't had the chance to use yet, and I've made a Robot themed card for my nephew who celebrates his birthday on the 29th December.

Robot card with movable cogs.

This card was made using a Kaisercraft stamp set called "Technologic" and the HB2U stamp came from a Clearly Besotted Stamp set called "TEXT ME". I embossed the black cardstock using a Sizzix embossing folder called "Dots", the folder isn't that large so I embossed first one side of the card then lined up the folder to emboss the other side. To highlight the dots I rubbed over it with silver gilding wax (sorry don't know the make as it came free with a magazine and the packaging doesn't have any details). I stamped, coloured then fussy cut the gears and punched a hole through the centres so that I could add brads through them and the embossed background. It's not lined up perfectly and I should have used thicker card but if you move the cogs they do actually move the others which I LOVE!!! I'm not going to go into any further details about how this card was made because it's just stamping and colouring with a hint of dry embossing. Of course if you do want a more detailed "How to make" please leave a comment below.

Close up of Robots

Another view of the Robot card with movable gears!

PRODUCTS USED

Kaisercraft "Technologic" Clear Stamps
Clearly Besotted "TEXT ME" stamps

Dovecraft 3mm "Masculine" brads

Sizzix 657253 Dots & Flowers set #2

Silver gilding wax

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Kraft card
White card
Black card

ProMarkers in Ice Grey 1 & 2

Clear Wink of Stella Brush Marker

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my new creation, I'm planning on working on my Christmas cards over the weekend (I'm so behind!) so hopefully I'll have something to share on Monday. Until then - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Another sprinkling of fairy dust...

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! First of let me apologise for any typos that may occur on this post, I'm slowly recovering from a migraine that's laid me low for the last couple of days and as I still have the residue of it I'm trying not to look at the screen too often so I don't trigger it again - thank goodness for learning how to touch type, I'm practically doing this with my eyes closed! I've decided not to enter the Passion for Promarkers challenge this week but will be concentrating on making cards for birthdays in December so I can get them sent before the post gets clogged up with the Christmas cards etc. With that in mind I have one card to share today - another fairy sprinkles card, this time for my sister Teresa.

Fairy sprinkles Birthday Card

As you can see this card is very similar to the one I made for my sister-in-law last week. Ideally I would have liked to have made the fairy into a steampunk fairy but wasn't sure how to go about it with only very limited stamps (tbh I was afraid to start stamping gears in case I totally ruined it - I think this card is really pretty!) The main differences are the distress ink blending colours and I've layered the fairy topper onto gold holographic card instead of silver. Oh and I stamped the fairy sprinkles in black ink instead of the white I used last time which turned out to be a tactical error as it wasn't as easy to colour over the sprinkles with the jelly gel pens.

PRODUCTS USED

Lavinia Fairy Stamps free with papercraft essentials magazine

Distress Inks in: Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade and Fired Brick

Blending tool and blending pads

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Clear Wink of Stella Brush marker

Cream card 300gsm
Black card (The Works)
Gold holographic card (the Works)
Black Holographic Glitter card (The Works)

8" x 8" 300gsm Card blank Craft UK Limited (local craft shop £7.20 for 25 with envelopes)

Sikorea 10 colour Jelly Gel Glitter Pens

Lol just noticed a really big difference to this card and the one I did for Sue - I've forgotten to add the butterfly rub-ons! I may add them later - I quite like the card as it is.

Well that's all my craft news for now, I have a card for my nephew to make and I'm thinking Aliens or Robots would be a good choice. So until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Tuesday 25 November 2014

Gardening Pocket card inspired by thefrugalcrafter - Lindsay Weirich

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! Today I would like to share a card I've made for my friend Jean. It's her birthday at the end of the week and as she lives in the town I used to live in, it means I'm unlikely to see her on her actual birthday so I wanted to include a little gift with her card that wouldn't cost a fortune to post. Lindsay Weirich (thefrugalcrafter on YouTube) had a project a few days ago for making pockets to fill with paper and crayons to entertain the kids during Thanksgiving, I thought this was a fantastic idea to have as a card topper and fill with a few gardening goodies.

Gardening themed card using Lindsay Weirich's paper pocket technique
Please check out Lindsay Weirich's YouTube videos under thefrugalcrafter for instructions on how to make the double pocket, the only thing I would suggest is to stick the inside edges of the pockets with thin red liner tape as I found that the washi tape isn't strong enough to keep the edges closed. I used Docrafts Papermania Home to Nest papers to make the pocket and the green backing sheet which I stamped randomly with flowers and a butterfly stamp taken from a Katy Sue Simpler Times (sorry not sure which one I used) using Memento London Fog ink. I diecut the Happy Birthday sentiment using a few die from one of my magazine subscriptions using teal glitter card which I mounted on black card once diecut and I adhered it to the card using black foam tape (love this stuff it means if you put it a little too close to the edge it's not as noticeable as using white foam tape). I added two seed packets and a couple of plant ties and plant labels to the pockets then arranged the card as shown.

I hope you like what I've made and thanks to Lindsay Weirich for her original idea. If you have any questions or comments please leave them after this post. Until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Monday 24 November 2014

A sprinkle of fairy dust....

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! This week I need two cards for two special people - my sister-in-law Susan and my dear friend Jean. I've made a card for Sue and I'd like to share it with you.

Birthday card for my Sister-In-Law who's celebrating a significant birthday on Friday!

Originally this card was only 5" x 5" but I managed to mess up the verse inside so cut the card front off with a pair of scissors (next time I'd use a paper trimmer cos this is wonky!) I started off by colouring the card using Salty Ocean distress ink and a blender tool then added Dusty Concord until I had the desired effect. I stamped the main fairy image from a Lavinia Stamps set that I got free with papercraft essentials magazine sometime this year. I also stamped the three toadstools and the fairy dust twice using Memento Tuxedo black ink. The fairy wishes sentiment on the bottom right hand side came from a fairy stamp set that I got through the post yesterday with Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine (may not be available quite yet in the shops - subbies get it early). I coloured over the fairy wings with clear Wink of Stella and as it's a water colour and distress inks are water reactive, it bleached the wings as well as making them shimmer which I really like. I added some WOS to the toadstool caps too for added interest and shimmer. I coloured the fairy dust using some jelly gel glitter pens by Sikorea (not a spelling error, just a knock off brand from a pound shop type of place but actually really sparkly!). The butterflies are rub-ons from Crafters' Companion - a range called "Fairyopolis" (*I checked my packaging and I got the name wrong - this is the correct spelling, sorry for any confusion caused!) and it's hard to see on this photo but I added WOS to their wings too. Actually please excuse the quality of this photo, it really doesn't do this card justice (my camera is quite old and falling to bits - I have the battery fastened on with washi tape!). I mounted this finished panel onto black holographic glitter card then mounted this panel onto a 6" x 6" piece of Dovecraft "Fantasy" designer papers which features fairies and dragons, I've had it for years and wish I'd bought two packs as the dragons would look fantastic on a "Game of Thrones" themed card. I mounted this panel onto some more black holographic glitter card and added this panel to some silver holographic card. I matted this onto some plain black card which I added some clear WOS to as this card just screams to be blinged up. Finally I cut a piece of cream card stock to 7.5" x 7.5" and blended Salty Ocean and Dusty Concord distress inks onto it until I got a smooth blended effect. I added clear WOS to the edges of the card then centred the main panel onto it before sticking the finished topper onto a scalloped edged 8" x 8" card blank.

Here are a few more photos of the card.





PRODUCTS USED:

Lavinia Stamps "The Clouds Are Lined With Silver.."

Dovecraft 6" x 6" "Fantasy" Designer Paper Pack (DCDP72) copyright 2007 (blimey I have had these a long time!)

Crafters' Companion *"Fairyopolis"*  (see note in main text) rub-ons

Sikorea 10 Colour Jelly Gel glitter pens

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Tim Holtz Distress inks in Salty Ocean & Dusty Concord

Blending tool and pads

Clear Wink of Stella (WOS) brush marker

cream card stock
Black holographic glitter card (The Works)
Silver holographic card (The Works)
Black card stock (the Works)

Scalloped Edged 8" x 8" card blank and envelope (from local craft shop)

I hope you've enjoyed my latest card, as always please leave any comments or questions below and I'll answer them as soon as I can both here and on your blogs if you have them. I will add another post once I've made the birthday card for Jean (I have an idea or two!) and if I enter the Passion for ProMarkers Challenge on Tuesday. So until then - keep crafting!

With love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Thursday 20 November 2014

Entry For Passion for ProMarkers Challenge 274 "Entertain us".

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! I had fun doing Challenge 273 over at Passion for ProMarkers and enjoyed going out of my crafty comfort zone by using lace so I've decided to enter the challenge this week too which is themed around "entertain us", this can be either inspired by a film or song so I've chosen "On Top of the World" by The Carpenters. I've always loved this song plus it gave me an excuse to use one of my favourite stamp sets - santoro's simply gorjuss...! on Top of the World.

santoro's simply gorjuss ~ ....on top of the world stamped card
Close up of image coloured with ProMarkers
A little closer still! lol


Inspired by last week's challenge to make a lace flower!

Same card but with two leaf hat pins added

Close up of lace flower with added hat pins

PRODUCTS USED:

Stamp set - santoro's simply gorjuss...! ...on top of the world.

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black ink

CARDSTOCK: White 300gsm (brand unknown), Papercellar Silver card, The Works holographic card, The Works black card. Scalloped edged 8" x 8" card blank (local craft shop), DCWV cloudy sky paper from all occasions scrapbook in a stack kit.

Lace from Boyes

Gems from Poundland

Woodware Ticket corner punch

Dovecraft "Brights" Chalks (the sky)

Clear Wink of Stella Brush pen (shimmer on hair and pigeons)

Leaf Hat Pins Every Craft's A Pound

Metal World Charm taken from Avon Keyring

PROMARKERS
Skin: Almond, Sunkissed Pink
Hair: Cool Grey 3,4,5
Leggings: Cool Grey 1 and 5
Pinafore and petticoat: Ice Grey 1
Dress: Pastel Blue
Pigeons: Slate and Cool Grey 2

I hope you've enjoyed my challenge entry and if you're inspired by my card please leave a comment below with a link to your creations. Until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Tuesday 18 November 2014

Entry for Passion for ProMarkers Challenge 273 - Lace

Hello crafty peeps, welcome to my crafty nook! I really enjoyed the challenge last week hosted by Passion for ProMarkers so I've decided to enter another card today for challenge 273 - a card featuring ProMarkers and lace. I'm not a huge fan of lace as it reminds me of net curtains but I do like the crocheted lace you can get. This card was quite a challenge not least because I left it until the last minute to make as I was finishing off my entry to the card designer of the year competition.

Dimension Stamp card featuring Lace for challenge 273
I need to link this post to the Passion for Promarkers blog so I'm not going to go through the steps I took to make this card, if you are interested about how I made it or the materials I used (I have everything written down but the craft gremlins have run off with my notebook!) then please leave a comment below. Until next time, happy crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Monday 17 November 2014

The Cards For my Card Designer of the Year Entry

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! In my last post I shared with you all the project for the card designer of the year competition (closing date Friday 21st November 2014). I seem to be one of those crafters who needs a tight deadline to feel creative and if I'm honest when I was studying with the O.U. I tended to leave my essays until the last possible moment too, so it's no surprise to find that I've only just finished the two cards that I needed to make to complete the entry.

8" x 8" Katy Sue Simpler Times "Just A Note" card

My first card took ages to make because I kept messing it up! I love this Katy Sue Simpler Times stamp and I was lucky enough to get it and three others for the bargain price of  £1 each in the Mega Sale last July. The images are really cute and stamp like a dream! I stamped this image using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 300gsm white card stock. The stamp isn't quite as wide as the 5" x 5" card so I drew a black line using a Letraset fine liner pen either side of the stamped image. The image was then coloured in using ProMarkers in a variety of colours (if you'd like to know what colours I used please leave a comment below) I added white detail using a white gel pen. The sky was coloured in using Dovecraft "Brights" chalks a product that I've had for many years but haven't really used up to now. I mounted this image onto black card and cut it so that there was a very thin border all around. I layered this piece on a 6" x 6" glitter card taken from DCWV "The Twinkle Glints" stack. I added this layer to a piece of black card cut to 7.5" x 7.5" and then mounted this onto a scallop edged  8" x 8" card blank. I stamped the sentiment from the stamp set onto white card and mounted it onto black card to create a thin border. I used black foam tape on the back of the sentiment and added it to the top left corner of the main image (confession time: I originally stamped the sentiment straight onto the sky part of the image but it went wonky!) finally I embellished the sentiment with three clear gems. To finish the card I stamped the image again inside the card blank using Memento "Summer Skies" ink pad, then stamped thinking of you over it using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

Acetate Accordion Diamond fold card

This card looks complicated but is really easy to make as its just a few scores and a bit of folding. I made this by scoring an A4 sheet of 200 micron acetate in thirds (I have a scoreboard that came free with Papercraft inspirations magazine and it has a score line for a zig-zag/3-fold card which is perfect for this initial fold) and folding the side panels in half again but in the opposite direction to the first folds. My first instinct when I was working out how to make this card was to fold down the outer panels but you actually need to fold the middle panel top corner over diagonally so its side edge meets the inner score line of the side panel (its like folding the page of a book over to mark your place - not that I'd ever do that! *tongue in cheek* lol) make sure you burnish this crease well with a bone folder. Open the fold out and push the middle crease down while pressing on the diagonal creases - this is how the diamond shape is formed. Repeat with all the corners top and bottom until you have a diamond shaped front panel and two flaps angled at the back - the accordion part of the name refers to the fact that if you pull on the back flaps the card moves like an accordion. I wanted to keep the card simple so I cut two panels of docrafts Papermania "Madame Payraud's Collection" paper to 2.7" x 8" and adhered them to the side panels leaving a slight border, the remainder of the patterned sheet was just big enough to cover the central panel so I cut it into a long diamond shape. I added strips of textured white card stock to the back of the outer panels because as it's acetate you can see the sticky tape and it looks ugly. However due to the way it's folded it's hard to see the inner panel so I didn't bother covering up the back. I die cut a Crafter's Companion Die'sire Classical Frame out of black card stock, then added a panel of DCWV textured white card stock taken from a 8" x 8" All Occasion scrapbook kit in a stack, leaving a thin black border, this was then glued to the front of the card making sure that the circles slightly overlapped the sides of the panel at the top. I die cut a large stitch flower out of black card stock using Lil' inker designs stitched flowers dies and a smaller flower out of textured white card. I layered these together and added a large clear gem to its centre. I adhered the flower to the centre of the white panel and added medium sized clear gems to all four corners of the white panel. Finally I added large clear gems on the four outer corners and on the diamond points. One of the best things about this card is that it fits into a DL sized envelope.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at my latest cards, as always if you have any questions or comments please leave them below. If my instructions on how to make the acetate card are unclear I will post a step by step photo tutorial on request.

Now that I've finally sent off all the competitions I shall be concentrating on Christmas, so until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Thursday 13 November 2014

Note Holder Box Entry for Card Designer of The Year 2014

Hello crafty peeps, welcome to my crafty nook! It's not that long since I entered the Papercrafter of the Year competition and the deadline for the next big comp the Card Designer of the Year 2014 is rapidly approaching - it's non-stop at the moment! As usual just as I need it my card mojo has vanished and I'm struggling to find something new to make without resorting to buying more stuff. As I usually do when inspiration is thin on the ground I visited YouTube and checked out some of the subscriptions I'm signed up for and although most of the videos are for Christmas/holiday cards and projects I did find a rather nifty project on Splitcoaststampers, a "fold over box" by Liz Walker. Liz's box was Christmassy (not surprising at this time of year) but I decided to make mine into a holder for memo papers to keep next to the telephone. As I want it to be on display all year round I made a non Christmas themed box.

Top of Note Holder Box

I used a sheet of My Mind's Eye double sided cardstock from a range called "Just Dreamy", I've had it for YEARS so I don't imagine you'll be able to get hold of it still but any double sided card will do. In the end I used a second sheet for the mats and flowers but you only need one sheet to make the basic design. For a really good tutorial pop over to YouTube and look up Splitcoaststampers and fold over box, but if you want to stick with me then here goes. I cut my card to 9"x6" and scored it long side at 3" and repeated with more card so I ended up with two 6"x6" panels with a 3"x6" hinge. I attached the two hinges together using a strong glue so I ended up with a something that looks like a binder. To make the box to go inside the binder, cut some cardstock to 10"x10" and score each side at 3". Cut to inner score line and trim off part of each tab then stick to the inside of the flaps to create the box shape - use a really strong wet glue and either keep a hold of it until it sets or use paperclips to anchor the two pieces together until it dries. Decorate the outside and inside panels of this box.

Inside Box (with note paper)

I found the lid a bit flimsy once I put it all together so I added a panel of black card to the inside of the lid, then I centred the box and stuck it down using more strong wet glue. I cut two strips of ribbon and added them to the centre of the lid and the base of the Note Holder using Anita's Tacky Glue. I matted more of the double sided card onto black cardstock and added these to the lid and the base covering up the glued part of the ribbon, using more strong glue.

I cut some flowers using Lil' inker designs flowers die in the patterned and black card, then diecut two swirls out of more black card using a Craft-Too "Swirly" Die Cutting & Embossing Stencil. I layered different sized flowers together to make the flowers (see photo) and added Sparklet Stickers from The Works to the centres. I added these flowers to the top left corner of the front using strong wet glue and slid the swirls under two of the flowers as shown adding a few drops of glue where needed. I embellished this front with a few black gems and some Craftwork Cards Black card candi. For a bit of shimmer I highlighted the black areas with either clear Wink of Stella or black Wink of Stella. Finally I cut sheets of paper to size and tied them together with waxed cord along with a pen. The finishing touch was to tie the ribbon in a bow.

Side view of Fold Over Box


Here are a few more images of the finished project - many thanks to Liz Walker of Splitcoaststampers for the original idea and tutorial - please check her out on YouTube, it's worth a visit.





I hope you've enjoyed my version of Liz Walker's Fold Over Box and I'd love to see what you come up with. As always if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them in the section below and until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,
Sarah xxx

Thursday 6 November 2014

ProMarker Challenge week 272 Inspired by a Beatles Song

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook!


Card Inspired by "Rain" - The Beetles




Today I finally purchased the last ProMarker I need to complete my collection (not including metallics and the special addition collections they bring out) and as I want to become as proficient as possible at colouring and blending I looked on the ProMarker website to see if they had an accreditation scheme similar to the ones that Copic and Spectrum Noir run. I couldn't find one but they do have a blog at this link www.promarkerchallenge.blogspot.co.uk that runs a weekly challenge so I thought I'd enter this card which I coloured in using Promarkers and distress ink. I thought it would be a good card for the Beatles song "Rain".

I hope you like it and if you have any questions please leave a comment in the space below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah x

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Woo Hoo - I beat my crafter's block!!!

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! For the last few weeks I've been trying to finish the card component of the National Papercrafter of the Year Competition. I tackled the project first assuming that it would be the element I'd struggle with most as I'm a cardmaker and scrapbooker (an infrequent one at that!) rather than someone who makes lots of mini books and home decor items. For some reason I had no trouble with the project but really struggled to come up with card ideas that weren't baby related. I had the dreaded crafter's block!  Maybe because the closing date is Friday but something clicked yesterday and I've been up all night putting the finishing touches to the two cards I'm submitting to the competition. Of course as they are wont to do when I'm up against the clock, lots of things have gone wrong with the cards which is why I pulled an all nighter - the most annoying was deciding Tea Dye distress ink would look better inside the card if I did second generation stamping only to not have enough ink left on the stamp to give a complete image - argh!

Coffee & Cream themed card using Katy Sue Designs Simpler Times Coffee Time stamp set 
This first card is a lot more embellished then I'd normally make and I may have gone a bit overboard with the paper and silk flowers. I've also used paper doilies something I've avoided up to now as they always look a bit daft on my cards like they don't belong there. However I really wanted to have a brown and cream colour scheme for this card and the doilies were a way to introduce the cream part in a decorative manner. I coloured the main stamped image using shades of brown Pro-Markers (the skin was done in putty and tan), the parts of the image that appear red were coloured in using terracotta pro-marker. Once the image was coloured I cut round it using a circle template, I had hoped to use a Sizzix circle die but it wasn't quite large enough. I looked through my flowers and picked out ones that I could colour using Pro-Markers and ended up with a mixture of silk and paper flowers. The silk flowers were extremely easy to colour - the paper ones took more effort but I like the way they turned out. I cut a sheet of 8" x 8" paper down to 7" x 7" and blended some walnut stain distress ink round the edges. I wanted to introduce cream into the design using a doily but all the ones I had were either far too small or just a bit too big, so I decided to use four small ones behind my main image, I stuck them down on the backing paper using Anita's Sticky PVA Glue. I added the main image to the centre of the doilies then arranged the cream and brown flowers round it. I used a hot glue gun to stick the flowers down once I had them how I wanted them. I had loads of glue strings from the glue gun and one of them landed on the backing paper, when I tried to peel it off it took the top layer of the design off so I found some brown ribbon and added a strip across the rip and made a bow out of a second length. Both were stuck down using red liner tape. I felt the design looked unbalanced at this point so I added some more brown ribbon at the opposite bottom corner, unfortunately I didn't use a long enough piece and you could see the frayed edge so I layered a lighter shade of brown ribbon on top and added some flat backed clear gems to the top ribbon. I added loads of red liner tape to the back of the panel and stuck it down on an 8" x 8" scallop edged card blank. I then messed up the stamping (see above!) and ended up cutting the front of the card off and adding it to a panel of kraft card cut to 8" x 9" and scored at 1" in to make a hinge to stick the front panel onto. I stamped the image inside using tea dye distress ink and added a "Warm Wishes" sentiment from the stamp set.

Tatty Button Rainy Days side gatefold card
This second card is probably my favourite and uses Creative Expressions Tatty Button stamps and lots of clear embossing. I stamped the image onto the card blank and made a mask for the image using Post It notes. I coloured the sky using distress inks and splashed droplets of water on it to make rain. The image and grass were then coloured in using Pro-Markers. Once completed I clear embossed the brolly, water drops and the puddles using an embossing pen and clear powder. The black background was stamped using a chevron design stamp and black holographic embossing powder. I cut a chevron patterned piece of paper to the required size and smeared embossing ink all over it and then embossed it using the clear embossing powder and a heat tool. I love the way this panel looks as it's like plastic. I mounted this onto black card and then added a threaded red button. I scored a piece of cardstock into the two panels and threaded some waxed black cord through the widest side. I covered this up with the stamp image raised slightly using black foam tape.I adhered the smaller panel on the right hand side using red liner tape. I tied the waxed cord round the button to make a closure.

Inside panel stamped with Tatty Button stamp and Kaisercrafts Stamp

I stamped the sentiment out onto white card using Versamark ink and sprinkled various embossing powders over the words allowing some of them to mix. I then heat set the powders before mounting the panel onto black cardstock. I stuck this to the right hand side of the inside section of the card then stamped the umberella image on the left hand side using Memento London Fog ink.

It's taken me almost as long to write this blog as it did to make the cards! lol.

I'll be taking my complete entry into the post office today so I hope you'll all keep your fingers (and toes!) crossed for me.

That's all my crafty news and share. If you have any questions please leave a comment below and until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Card for Isobel

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! I would like to share with you the "welcome" card I've made for Isobel.

Little Star Welcome card for Isobel

I'm rather pleased with this card and of all the baby cards I've made in recent weeks it's got to be my favourite. I started off stamping a Baby on A Cloud stamp (can't remember who it's made by - sorry) using Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto 300gsm coated white card stock and while the stamp was out I stamped it onto a large post it note to make a mask. This stamp has a very thick outline so I cut it on it rather than just inside it to make the mask ready for some Distress Ink blending. I covered the stamped image with the mask and blended three Tim Holtz Distress inks all over the A6 card (I have a ready cut stock of A6 card so I can stamp as I want to and I renew this as it gets low.) I started with "stormy skies" and blended it all over the card being careful around the top of the mask as it didn't have any sticky on it. Then I added "chipped sapphire" and blended the two colours together until there was no blender marks - I really need to get my hands on the new round blenders. Finally I added "black soot" round the edges and blended it into the centre without adding more ink. I heat set the ink and tested the card surface with embossing powder to make sure it was dry enough to heat emboss without excess powder sticking to the surface (to test if a surface is dry just pour embossing powder over it and if loads stick you'll need to heat set it or use an anti static bag) Unfortunately I tested mine over the middle of the card and not the edges so some powder did stick, however it's a happy accident because I love the way it turned out! I got three magazines today through the post and one of them had a star stencil as it's cover gift. I used this stencil and an embossing ink pen to draw the stars then I added pinpoint dots all over the background (at this point the baby mask remains on the image) and sprinkled the card with Do-Crafts silver embossing powder which I melted with a heat tool until the  powder turned opaque and silver. I removed the paper mask from the image and once I shook out the embossing powder that had gathered inside I coloured the image using Pro-markers. I stamped "Little Star" from Fancy Pants Welcome Little Star stamp set on top of the clouds but it was really hard to read so I stamped over it using clear embossing ink and heat set silver embossing powder on the words. In all honesty it looked a complete mess so I stamped the baby image again, coloured it using Pro-markers, stamped the sentiment in clear ink and heat embossed using Rangers Blue Pearl embossing powder, then I fussy cut the image out. I added black foam tape to the underside and stuck it over the original image. I found the metal Lil Charms embellishment in my stash and attached  to the top part of the card with more of the black foam tape. Finally I stuck the whole card piece to a Papermania pink A6 card blank. I stamped "Welcome" inside and a sprinkling of stamped stars (also from the Fancy Pants stamp set) in the four corners of the inside panel. I also stamped these stars onto the outside of the envelope.

I've a few more cards I'd like to share but that's for the next blog post, so until then - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xx


Sunday 2 November 2014

Isobel

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! Yesterday I went to see my new niece Isobel - she is so gorgeous!!! Isobel slept through most of my visit apart from when she was being fed or having her nappy changed (my sister-in-law offered me that task but I graciously declined!) but I held her for what seems like hours while she slept. She really looks like her dad and has the longest fingers, I'm hoping it means she'll be creative like her dad and her Auntie Sarah - can you tell I'm smitten???


Isobel - isn't she a cutie?!?

The light levels in Sue's house are terrible so I'm afraid the quality of this picture isn't great, luckily I took a disposable camera with me and I'll be taking it in for development tomorrow - I just hope they come out ok as Bethany kept running off with the camera and took selfies of her top! Lol it was sweet but it meant that most of the film is useless and each picture she took meant one less of Isobel and the rest of the family. I'm hoping to make a mini album of Isobel as part of Sue's Christmas present which is why I wanted lots of photos of them all.

Everyone loved the cards I made though Steve (Isobel's dad) pointed out that I hadn't made one for Isobel herself so I've got another new baby card to make now.

Craftwise I'm suffering from crafter's block! I should have sent my entry to the Cardmaker of the Year Comp about a week ago, the deadline is Friday and I can't seem to find the inspiration needed to make the two card components needed for the entry. I really need to get myself in gear and make two cards so I can get it sent off tomorrow.

That's all my crafty news for now so until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx