Blog Candy Alert

I am here to give you the heads up on some awesome blogs with some really cool blog candy on offer on them.

Jaqui has hit 10,000 hits and is celebrating http://jacqui47.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-10000-hits-blog-candy.html

Bev is on the verge of 20,000 hits and is also having blog candy http://bevscrafts.blogspot.com/

Camilla has magnolia stamps amongst other things http://pysselsidan.blogspot.com/2008/07/nytt-dt-kort-och-blogcandy-new-dt-card.html

With Hearfelt Sympathy

This is not a card I enjoyed making. Don't get me wrong. The card, I think turned out really well. I just don't like having to make sympathy cards. I feel upset for their loss and the turmoil of emotions that comes from losing someone important in your life. It's just really hard for me to detatch from that. At the weekend we lost a long time family friend on my husbands side of the family. She lost her battle with breast cancer. I made this card for her partner. She will be missed.xxx



The cardstock is regal rose and black. I actually rose romance instead of regal rose and old olive inks to water color the image. It would appear my set of rich regals is older than I thought. The stamp is 'riot of petals' from stampin up. To achieve the sentiment I used 2 different stamps and my key tag punch. I then mounted it on a piece of regal rose and used my corner punch to make the corners match the key tag. Regal rose ribbon and brads finish the card.

Hugs
Nic

You Hoo! Thankyou

One more try for Katharina's Guest Designer call. I have a backlog of chores building up so I might not get the chance to do another one before the deadline. My hubby has been asking me to make him Thank you cards for him to use in work. I figured since he funds my crafting habit it's the least I could do.



Cardstock colors are wild wasabi (my current favorite) and bashful blue. The DP is from the Blossoms & Butterflies stack from DCWV. I used Frances Owl from High Hopes for my main image. For his background and the butterfly I used SU set Essence of Love. The sentiment is a mixture of SU seeing spots and a little Hero Arts set I bought recently. I used my cuttlebug and circle punches. The ribbon is one I got from Michael's on sale.

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

Katharina's Guest Designer Quest

Katharina is doing something wonderful. She is taking the plunge and opening her own stamp business. I am so happy for her, she is very talented. The sneak peaks on her blog have got me very excited. As have her list of design team members. Such a talented group of ladies. She is also looking for a guest designer. For this she has posted a sketch on her blog and asked for us to make a card using it that she will then choose her guest designer from those entries. Well this would be a dream come true for me so I thought 'what the heck, lets give it a try'. You can find the post about this here http://katharina1704.blogspot.com/2008/07/whiff-of-joy-guest-designer-call.html although if you click on her link under 'Inspiration Central' you will see all her news including all the sneak peaks. Here is my entry for Katharina's quest.



Hopefully I will get a couple more done using this sketch before the end of the deadline. Watch this space.

*(added) Almost forgot to give you the low-down on the card. Cardstock is Wild Wasabi, Pretty in Pink and Soft Sky. Stamp set is SU Always. DP is Marcella by K. Ribbon is Soft Sky. My cuttlebug and scallop punches were used and other embellishments include a random flower and silver metal dot from colorbok.

Hugs
Nic

Ila's Awesome Blog Candy

You can win yourself some awesome blog candy over on Ila's Blog this week. She is giving away some Magnolia stamps. They are the cutest thing and my new love.

http://artfullyila.blogspot.com/

Go on over and see of you can win some... I know I am.

Hugs
Nic

Kimmie's Blog Candy Entry

I have been blog hopping and came across a very talented lady. I have been admiring her stuff for a while now but keep forgetting to put her on my inspiration list. Anyway she is there now and she is having an awesome blog candy right now where you can win yourself some Magnolia stamps. Again another thing I have been admiring and have on my ever increasing wish list. She has a challenge attached to her blog candy and you have to use her sketch from her recently made date book.

http://kraftinkimmieskorner.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-new-datebookand-magnolia-blog-candy.html

I needed a card for a friend's daughters first birthday so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. Here is my entry for Kimmie's challenge:



The cardstock is River Rock and Pretty in Pink I also used Pretty in Pink DP from my hostess prints pack. The scalloped oval is a Sizzix die I put through my cuttlebug. The stamp set used is 'A new little someone'. I used River Rock Ribbon and put a flower with a button brad in the corner. I am very happy with the finished card. I hope it's candy worthy.

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

Playing with Shrinky Dinks

Ok, I know you all are probably old hands at this but this literally was the first time I have ever played with them. I got some for the kids after they played with them at my friend Lucy's house. They had so much fun with them they have been asking for them ever since. Well I gave in and bought some.





Jake asked for me to stamp my loads of love truck for him. I can't believe how much it shrank. Now we have some I can see us having a lot more fun with these. I may even use them on my crafts.

Hugs
Nic

Scrapbooking At Sarah's

Sunday I went over to Sarah's house to play. She was having a scrapbooking weekend at her house because her hubby was away on business and the kids were at her parents. I just went for a few hours Sunday afternoon. I took the kids School Scrapbooks with me in an effort to get caught up before the next school year begins. I got Megan's kindergarten page done. Which made me very happy.



I also managed to do Jake's first and second grade pages done. All I have left to finish now is his third grade page and I am all ready for this year and hopefully some non-school pages.





Sarah is also my Stampin up Demo and quite the enabler.LOL. I sat there and watched her and 2 friends use exactly the same scrapbooking kit and create 3 totally different looks. I'm hooked!!! She let me know where she got her kits from and I of course signed up. My first kit is due next month. I shall let you know how I get on.

Hugs
Nic

Gorilla Time

I have been wanting to use this stamp ever since I bought it. I joined a swap on Joani's MSN group called 'multi stamp' swap. The main image of your card had to be done using more than one stamp. In total I think I used 4. I haven't used the masking technique for some time so it was a lot of fun to do.



When I was done stamping I colored my image in using my watercolor pencils. Not 100% happy with these. I am considering getting watercolor crayons instead. The main cardstock is an espresso color from Archivers. The ribbon is real red. DP is from a provo craft super slab. I stamped the present a second time on a piece of real red, cut it out and mounted it on a dimensional. The leaves are stamped on garden green. The sentiment was stamped then torn around and I brushed a chestnut brown colorbox chalk inkpad over the edges. My hubby asked if I would make a similar thankyou card for him so I changed the sentiment and left off the gift for his.



The bananas, gift, leaf and thanks sentiment are from acrylic changito sets and the gorilla, background and gorilla sentiment are all from High Hopes.

I entered this card into a blog challenge over on Cute Card Thursday. http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/ Challenge 19.

Thanks for looking

More Notes and Fixed Mistakes

I got around to making another set of notes the other day. This time I used Groovy Guava cardstock and ink. They turned out really well. I am hoping to make a lot more of these in various colors but for now I have run out of notes and have to wait on the new catalogue to order more.

When I was making the Pomegranate ones I accidentally dropped the stamp and got a faint image on the edge of a couple of the cards which meant I could not use them to make a third set as I had hoped. So instead I made a 4 x 4 card from colored cardstock and with my originals I stamped the image and cut off all around and mounted it on the colored card instead. I also embossed the sentiment along the bottom of the card. I'm not sure but I think I like this way better.LOL

Thanks for looking.

Nic

Blog Candy Ahoy!!!

You've heard me raving about how cute High Hopes Stamps are? Want some of your own? Well Ila has some from the latest new releases up for grabs. These are some of the cutest stamps I have ever seen. She's drawing the winner on Friday so hurry, hurry, hurry.

http://artfullyila.blogspot.com/2008/07/high-hopes-new-release-blog-candy.html

I am so happy to announce this blog candy. I love these stamps and the cards Ila makes with them.

Hugs
Nic

Fresh Cuts Box for Notes

Well here it is the box to hold my notes. I'm pretty pleased at how it turned out. Now I just need to figure out how many I need to make between now and Christmas. I had a little help on how to keep the box closed. I got the idea for the slip off belly band from here http://www.barbstamps.com/my_weblog/2008/06/tutorial---love-notes-and-pouch.html I thought about doing the pouch the way she had but did not have the 12 x 12 card so I went with a simpler box style instead.

I used a piece of cardstock measuring 7 1/2 X 11 inches. Scored lengthwise at (4), (4 1/2), (9) & (9 1/2) and across at (1), (1 1/2), (6) & (6 1/2). then I trimmed off what I didn't need leaving me with the above picture.

I turned it over and stamped an image in each corner from the stamp set and also on the corner of the envelopes that go with the notes. I then used sticky strip to stick the long end to the 2 short sides.

The belly band was made using both tag punches to make the label and 12 inches of white grosgrain ribbon. I thread both ends threw a punched hole and tied a knot. When you need to open the box the band just slips off.

I hope this makes sense. If you want I can attempt a diagram of the scoring and what you need to trim if this will help. Let me know.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Fresh Cuts Notes

I am a big fan of these new pre-cut notes from Stampin Up. I have decided to make little packets of these for Christmas presents for family and friends. The packet is still a work in progress as I am still ironing out my measurements to ensure I can fit at least 4, hopefully 5 of these to a packet/box.

The first color I picked to play with was Purely Pomegranate. I am going to have to stock up on the in-colors cardstock as they are due to change in August when the new one comes out. These notes however are going to be in the new idea book which I am very excited about. I coordinated the notes with the stamp set of the same name. The notes are 4 x 4 and I backed it with a piece of purely pomegranate cut slightly smaller. In the middle I cut out a smaller stamped image and stuck a sticker gem in the middle. So many possibilities with these . I love them.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Belated Birthday + Candy Opp.

I made some time today to sit in my craft room and make a card. I haven't really felt like it until today but hopefully this will be the start of many more to come. I also made a Stampin' Up order with my friend which I hope will be here by the weekend and give me something else new to play with too.


This was my first play with my High Hopes stamps. I felt sure the first one I would ink would be the gorilla but as soon as I got this fella I knew I had to play with him. I saw a card on another blog http://artfullyila.blogspot.com/2008/05/high-hopes-may-project-of-month.html and was sold on this guy straight away. I just love High Hopes stamps right now. They are just so darn cute.


Cardstock is Tempting Turquoise, Real Red and Orchid Opulence. I used my SU watercolor pencils and aqua painter. The bag of nuts I cut out and used a dimensional. The scallop at the bottom was done using the slit punch. Finished with 2 black brads. The sentiment inside the card says "I can't believe I forgot".



EXTRA, EXTRA!!!!!!

Found some awesome blog candy on http://donkeysmiles.blogspot.com/ I have been watching this blog for a little while now and she is very talented. Go check it out. Blog Candy is only going on till Friday so hurry.



Hugs
Nic

Father's Day Cards

Here they are as promised. I made these before I went away and I am so very glad I was able to give my Dad his on Father's Day. He is a big fan of my cards. Masculine cards are not my strong point and I do struggle with coming up with ideas that suit guys rather than gals or kids but these turned out really nice I think. I made 2 each of 3 different designs.

The cardstock is Real Rust and Black. The DP was from Bo Bunny Press. The image was stamped onto cream cardstock.

I used a Tiger Face stamp that I bought recently from TAC. The sentiment stamps were from Archiver's.

The image was watercolored using real rust ink and an aqua painter. I used a blue gel pen for the eyes to make them stand out.

The sentiment was versamarked then embossed using a copper embossing powder. The cards were all finished using antique copper brads.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

MIA - explained

Hello there,

You might have noticed that I have been missing for a few weeks. I got a phone call from Wales on June 3rd to say my Dad had had a heart attack. It was quite a major one and he was not expected to make it. I got on the next flight and have been over there for the last 3 weeks. My Dad is a fighter and thanks to some big prayers from family and friends is still with us and getting better every day. I am so very grateful to still have him in my life. I lost a couple of family members just before and while I was there and attended 2 funerals in 2 weeks. My Dad's sister lost her husband and My dad's Brother lost his wife. My heart is still heavy from these events as they were all very sudden. Needless to say my blogs have been neglected because I was unable and unwilling to update them. I left in such a rush I did not get to show you the Father's day cards I made. I will do that soon and hope you will bare with me as I slowly get back in the crafting saddle after having been away.

Hugs
Nic

Teacher Thankyou's

Here I am leaving thing's till the last minute again. LOL. As the school year approaches an end I wanted to make a little card for both the kids main teachers. I just got this Changito set with one of my birthday gift cards at Archiver's. It was just so cute I could not resist it. As you know apes are my biggest weakness.

The stamp set is called 'school for changito' and is apparently an Archiver's exclusive. Cardstock for this card was Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore and Only Orange. My buckle is a can tab (this is my way of recycling.lol) and the ribbon was from a $1 tube from Target (I shall be checking the label when I buy any of these in future as it only gave me 12 inches of this color which was almost not enough). To finish it off I put a prima with a silver brad at the edge of the sentiment. I used my Mega and Giga oval punches for the image.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Cowboy/Cowgirl Card

I only had cowboy stamps for this swap but we had been given the option of doing a cowgirl. I liked this idea and kind of had something in mind. Someone on Joani's group had showed us how to make the little TAC Cowboy into a girl and I wanted to try this. I also wanted to try out my new marvy punches. My friend Lucy came over the other night to spend some time and to do some crafting. I was still fusing about how to finish off my card as I had everything I wanted but it was missing something. With Lucy's valuable input, we managed to figure it out and this what I ended up with.

The cardstock is blue bayou and black. The DP is from Flair Designs - Horsin' Around Collection at Archivers. The Cowgirl is the cowboy from Wild West (with hair) and the sentiment is from It's the little things (Hostess set) both these sets are from TAC (The Angel Company). The flower is from a pack my mum sent me from Wales she bought them in a Sale a while back and this is the first time I got around to using them. I also used my Scallop Circle Mega and Giga punches I managed to get them for half price from the TAC catalogue.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Cat Card

Here I am with the last installment of things I had been waiting to post about. Finally I am caught up with all my stuff I had backed up to tell you about. This is the last thing I had on my 'put on blog' list. Now I guess I need to get in my craft room and start making some more stuff to show you.

This card was for the last swap I hosted on Gabby's group (Handmade Cards With Love). I am so very sorry the group is closing. We just didn't have enough members to keep going though. I was late with this one as my mojo has been in a state of on again off again. I just don't seem to be able to get my head straight. With this card done I am ready to say goodbye. I am all caught up on the swaps I owed to this group. I will miss checking how my friends are doing but a few of them are on another group I'm in so I guess life goes on. The swap was a cat or dog swap. You had to make the card with your preferred pet on it. I am hoping to get a kitty very soon so it seemed only right that I should put one on my card.

the cardstock I used is Purely pomegranate. The paper was in my scrap drawer. I used SU's 'The Cat's Meow' stamp set. The large eyelets are also SU as is the Wild Wasabi Ribbon. A fairly simple card. I am thankful for my Crop-a-dile it has been a life saver. I never used to like using eyelets before as they were so fiddly and noisy to use but it makes things so much easier.


I recently bought some new stamps from High Hopes (http://www.highhopesstamps.com/) after seeing them used on a couple of blogs. These stamps are just the cutest. I hope to ink them up real soon.

http://katharina1704.blogspot.com/2008/05/gorillas-just-wanna-have-fun.html

http://artfullyila.blogspot.com/2008/05/high-hopes-may-project-of-month.html

Thanks for stopping by

Hugs
Nic