A card share and life update.

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! Firstly I'd like to apologise for the long delay between posts - it's been a very busy month. As some of you may know if you follow me on Facebook, we've been having our kitchen done. Although the kitchen has been replaced there's still a lot of work to be done including redecorating the entire room and putting everything back. At the moment 95% of the stuff from the old kitchen is spread out all over the flat and I'm in the process of washing everything before putting them away in their new homes. I'm a bit shocked about how much stuff I managed to cram into half the cupboards my new kitchen has and it's going to be a long process putting it all back. If I'm honest I'm a bit overwhelmed about how much cupboard space I've got now and my desire to have things perfect is making it difficult to actually make the decision about where things should go.

Anyway enough of all this kitchen talk, instead I'd like to share a Good Luck jigsaw I've made for my nephew who's in the middle of exams at the moment and a thank you card I made for the various plumbers, fitters, joiners and electricians who have made my new kitchen a reality (sorry kitchen talk again!)

Good Luck jigsaw for Liam

This jigsaw was made using a pre-cut jigsaw from Woodware and the owl stamp set also comes from Woodware. I stamped the image using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and stamped a speech bubble from a Clearly Besotted stamp set. The shamrock stamp came from a Studio G stamp set called the luck of the Irish and originally came enclosed with a dotted circle but I carefully snipped it out leaving the dotted circle intact. I used a green ink pad to stamp the shamrocks randomly over the area. The Good Luck stamp came from a very old stamp set which came free with Papercraft Inspiration magazine. I coloured the owl, branch, leaves and small four leaf clover using ProMarkers and the painted round the images using Steampunk Galatos (the purple one) and clear Wink of Stella brush pen to make a shimmery paint. I edged the speech bubble and all of a shamrock with a glue pen and once it had dried to become tacky I added some foil on top - it's not perfect but I like the way it catches the light. I added Stickles Glitter Glue in Gold to the owl's beak.

Tools Thank you card

I had a lot of fun making this card. I've recently discovered an online company called IconUK which sells branded dies at a reduced price and doesn't charge any P&P. I've only had two orders so far but I've got to say I'm AMAZED by how quickly the orders come. Obviously the older dies are much cheaper than the latest releases (for example the Die-namics blueprints dies are around £20 a set, set 1 is £19.95 and they are £21.95 at My Mum's Craft Shop. So you save about £2.00) so your savings are better the older the release but you can still get some amazing dies for a fraction of anywhere else. However the Tool Time die that I used to make this card isn't actually any cheaper than it would be to buy anywhere else online as it cost £9.95 inc VAT but I just couldn't resist buying it especially as most places have added P&P under a certain amount. I cut the pieces out three times using my Big Shot machine and a mountboard shim - to cut perfectly I had to add a couple of sheets of card to the shim too and as I anticipate using this die a lot for men's cards (Father's Day will be here before you know it!) I've stuck the shim layers together using washi tape and have it stored with the new die. I used holographic mirror card, dull silver card and kraft card for the tool pieces. The die comes with extra pieces for handles and hammer heads which is brilliant as it means you don't have to throw bits away if you want a layered look. I coloured the handle grips using ProMarkers as shown - the silver and holographic card pieces didn't take the ink well and look a bit streaky but I think it just makes the tools look used, if I'd thought about it I could have splattered the tools with a bit of white acrylic paint for that authentic used tool look lol. I die cut the thanks using a scrap of holographic card and a word die by Clearly Besotted Stamps. I made a top folding card using kraft card and the backing paper is actually sandpaper which I cut to the required size and embossed using the Burlap Embossing folder that came 'free' with the Crafter's Companion Inspiration pack I mentioned in my last post. It gives the card fantastic texture and I really like the way it looks. (it's worth buying the mag just for this embossing folder alone!) I rather like the way the tools go off the card even if it means getting a slightly too big envelope to put it in.

I hope you like my latest creations and again I'd like to apologise for the delay between posts, I can't promise to even blog weekly until after the kitchen is finished so I hope you continue to be patient and visit when you can. Until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs

Sarah xxx