A little bit of Christmas...

How are we all today?

Today has been a funny ol' day really... it started off early with me needing to do a Guest Blog post for someone, which took a little longer than I thought... and by the time I'd finished, it was time to feed my wooflets and grab a cuppa! I then set to and started to make my samples for Saturday.

Did you know I'm at Craft Central, Derby Garden Centre this weekend? No?? Well, I am there from 10am to 4pm on Saturday, and we have lots of lovely new stash in store for you to peruse!

I have an abundance of loveliness ready to show you, with the new Happy Days collection, and also the new stunning Strictly collections - Christmas and Party.. these are simply beautiful.

There is also a little bit of Christmas with the new range, and also TWO (yes, two!!) Goody bags..

But alas.. I just have a few more older samples to show you from the previous Create and Craft shows that I have done. These were on our Christmas show a few weeks ago.

I love the Noel range that was out last year. It is very cute, and quite folk - arty.. a lovely little collection if I say so myself. I teamed it up with an aperture card that I created with a punch, and some of the lovely glittered vellum we had on the show.

Awww.. Penelope and Percy... how sweet are these???!!! A simple die cut decoupage layered with silver mirror card and the lovely glittered vellums again.

But what am I doing talking about Christmas in July? The weather outside isn't particularly bad, although there has been alot of rain this past week or so, but it's been fantastic for the hanging baskets. Everything seems as though it finally wants to break into bloom, and this little flower is no exception.

This is my pink nemesia. I love nemesia. I am going to call my next dog Nemesia.. ! Such a beautiful name for a beautiful flower. I had one years ago that our old neighbour Rob gave me before he passed away, and it eventually withered and never reflowered after a few years, which for a bedding plant is quite good!

So, after I saw this one and a dark blue one down in B and Q, I decided I was going to get another. Aren't they dainty?!

Another flower that is always a must is a petunia. Everyone needs a petunia. This vibrant pink colour contrasts really well with the dark blues and pinks in this one basket.

And a rose. What is a garden without a rose?! It was just a quick shot of the bud before the heavens decided to thrust their anger upon me, but I quite like the photo so I thought I'd share it.

Now... I did get an email yesterday about a couple of things.. first one was about the camera I used. Well, we have a Fuji finepix (not sure of the model number, but was from Curry's - new for 2012 if that helps?) and these photos and others were taken on the super macro setting.

Secondly, was about my upcoming shows on Create and Craft. I have a calendar up at the top of my blog and I do try to keep it well updated with my dates in there. Some dates show up as private, others you can see where I am and what I'm doing. I hope that helps.

Righty.. must make a move.. it's bed time and a very very busy day for me tomorrow. Please check back though.. there may be something small and hairy waiting to say hello!

Until next time.. take care, and happy crafting!

Last one...

How are you all today?

I thought I'd just drop by to share this last card with you.. I will get around to taking a photo of the other cards and upload them at some point, but this was one that I've not shared before with you, so there you go...

Again, this was one of the demos I did on Thursday, and I just love the colours on this card - the papers etc are from the Nostalgia range of Born to Shop, and the colours are right up my street...

I called this my scrap card, as to create it, I've just used up lots of little scraps and bits of paper, even the roses above are cut and curled from a square of an offcut.. but they look really lovely, and are soooooo easy to make!

I thought I'd just show you a close up of the rub on.. can you see how detailed they are?

They are just so lovely. I love the Born to shop range, and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with it.. I hope you enjoyed the shows too as much as I did.

So... onto this week, and I'm doing the Paper Clinic on Monday, but some other shows have been postponed ... so busy busy busy....

Whatever you're upto, I hope you enjoy yourselves.. don't forget to let me know what you've been creating, and if it's the Born to Shop range, I'd love to visit!!

Go Green...

Today's selection is from the Go Green selection that was on the Born to Shop shows. I really like the colours in this collection, very funky.. and the designs are perfect for me, as I really like to garden - in fact, my greenhouse is blooming as we speak!! Cabbages are coming on a treat and the lettuces and cucumbers are sprouting! All very exciting!!

So this first card was from the decoupage pack, and I really like the sayings... although I do wish the weeds would weed themselves as this is my least favourite part of gardening I must say.

Just look at the detail in the designs... this is what makes these images so special.. a great addition to my cup collection!

This was the stepper card that I made on the first show on Wednesday. These card shapes are great and I opted to use this one just as it was meant to, instead of chopping and folding like I normally would.

I even made a little decorative hanger.. and I think this will hang in my craft room when it's been redecorated.

And packaging?? Don't forget to use every little element you can off it.. the wording on this card came from the back of the pack, and I just chopped it and plonked it across the bottom of the card.

I've layered it up using foam pads on some of the words, just to add dimension.

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday. Today, I'm working up at the Range in Doncaster, and I'm sure we're going to have a fab day!

Happy Crafting everyone!!

Born to shop...

The two shows are over, and I'm back home and avidly making samples for the weekends demo's, and also some more shows next week on Create and Craft... it's all go you know! No rest for the wicked.. lol.. So will you be there joining me on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday? I hope so...

So, Born to Shop... what a bargain that was for the Compendium! I can't quite believe the price, and there were some boooooootiful things on sale too! I mean, glitterations????!!!! How can you live without them?

I managed to take a few photographs of the cards that I demo'd and also took with me... so here are a few of them.

This was one of my quick demos... and for this I combined the Bubbles range of papers and stickers with the lovely glitterations.. and no.. I didn't joke about not being able to add up.. honestly, I'm hopeless at Maths.. and spelling!! lol.

This was a sample I made from the Go Green pack of decoupage. I really love the combination of colours in this pack.. lime green is very 'in' at the moment, and combined with the softer hues of blue and green, it looks really classy.

Unfortunately, I never did get time to show how to use the embossing folder as a stamp, but this card has been worked very slightly differently.

What you need to do is emboss the image as you usually would, onto plain card, then I've just taken a black pencil and rubbed very lightly over the top of the embossing to give it an edge.

You can then colour the image in as you usually would - for this one, I used watercolour pencils.

I did the same with this image too. Now because the images are quite large, I've kept the backgrounds quite simple, and just matted and layered them onto white card.

I hope you like the selection today. I'll be back tomorrow with a few more to share.

See you there!!

Multishaper.. what a bargain!

Hello everyone!!! How are you all?

Today, I'm off down to Bath for the night as I'm filming for Creativity TV tomorrow... I really love doing these video's, they're such great fun!

This week, I've got quite alot on really.. in fact, for the next few weeks I'm quite busy - I'm not going to chase my tail though because following my new routine, I'm getting really organised!! Nothing is really left to the last minute, and I feel soooo much better for it! Much less stressful.

I do have quite a few shows booked in on Create and Craft too, so I'll let you all know when they are when I have my diary with me..

so, onto today's projects, and I want to share you some Multishaper cards. Have you seen the punch? Loads of punches on one platform - they're fantastic!! Corners, borders, squares, circles, ovals... you name it, it has it all! You can see them HERE on the Docrafts site.

On this mini card I used the square shape, which sort of turns out quite rounded..

The centre was punched from the 2" scallop circle punch. It fits in the space created quite perfectly. And isn't the image cute? I love, love, love the New Arrival decoupage set... in fact, all of this range is fab!

And here are some other shapes you can create too.

This is the Blossom punch that I used here. Can you see the detail in the punch? Amazing! I love it.

On this card, I've used the borders and corners to create the various shapes. I finished it with some of the metallic butterflies which we had in our demo kits a couple of months ago.

Very bright, but I love the colours.. I hope you do too!

Fantastic plastic...

And it's all about Templates...

So, today I'm down at Create and Craft, and I hope this scheduled post comes on on time! Maybe I'll have to check later to make sure.. lol..

So, the sneeky peek is one of the waterfall card template and there are LOADS of them available... check them all out over on the Docrafts site HERE... but as I say, this one is the waterfall card.

All the measuring and everything is done for you on the templates, which makes life alot easier!! And here are a few of the others that I used on the shows I did..

This one is the bow -

and I turned it into a bauble type of decoration, just by using the multishaper punch behind it to add the shape in gold. Again, I kept the card quite simple as the bow makes it look wonderful.

Now... this little cutie...

As I was browsing the Docrafts website last week, I came across THIS project by the very talented Katy Godbeer.. so as I only had a few moments to finish what I was doing before I finished for the night, I made a rough sketch of it, and this was my very quick version... still prefer Katy's though - that is one cute chickadee!!

This box above is one that I used the hexagonal template for. I extended the box to create it slightly longer for something bigger to fit in, or as favour boxes for weddings where you'd like to share a few chocolates.

The box below is the cupcake template.

This is the larger version of the cupcake, and on the template you get two sizes.. this one and a smaller one.. very nice eh?!

Okay.. so that's all for today. I hope you've had a brilliant day crafting, don't forget to share what you've been making. I'd love to pop over for a look. xx

Fancy schmancy markers...

Yep - they definately are. This is what I'm sharing with you today... it's all about markers.

The markers I've used on this project, can be found HERE on the Docrafts site. And I think they're lovely...

This is the full card, and below I'll tell you how I created it.

So, I began with a Kraft card, and then cut the front off leaving a section at the top to put my acetate onto. I had some of the Birdsong filigree paper left, so decided to add that onto the acetate to create the design.

The marker pens were used to colour in some of the sections of this paper, and they leave a wonderful metallic look to the card ... and the best bit?? You can use them on black card or white card, and the result is stunning on both!

Doesn't it look lovely?

The card below was made using stamps, pigment ink and chalks.. and the greeting was embossed with the pack of folders we had on the show.

The pens were used on this card to add some shine to the greeting - colour onto a glass mat with the markers, then quickly pick up some of the colour onto a dry baby wipe and rub over the wording... it leaves a great shine - although you can't see it too well on the card.

The folders are amazing - but I don't tend to use a machine to emboss these as they are too thin. I just use a bone folder, or something hard, to rub over the top of the folder with the card inside.

I hope you liked today's projects.... here's your sneeky peek for tomorrow!

Guess what it is? check back tomorrow and all will be revealed.

I am going to schedule my post in for Saturday as I'll be off to Peterborough for a visit to Ideal World... and I'm there with the remainder of the Pick of the Day. Did you catch it??? Did you like it??? I know I did!!

Until then, Happy Crafting!!

Busy, busy, busy....

Hello all !!

How is everyone??

Today, I thought I'd share a few pictures of the items from last Sunday's show, and today, I'm focusing on the Stitching templates that we had on the day. You can find them HERE on the Docrafts site. There are a few different ones that you can get hold of, and they are all equally as nice.

So, without further ado... here's the first project..

I like to keep the cards quite simple when you are using something really lovely, like the dimensional daisy punch and the stitching.. So perfect for baby cards.

This little close up above shows the stitching in slightly more detail. I used the phrases set on this card, and then teamed it up again with the Daisy's, which have been popped off altogether instead of leaving them within the paper.

See... doesn't the stitching look lovely? I really like the rustic feel of the finished result.

I created a little wall hanger from one of the chipboard books, and again, kept it quite simple.

And a little gem in the centre of the flower just adds that extra bit of something.

I really hope you like the projects I've shared with you today... here's a little sneaky peek of the projects for tomorrow... can you guess what I used on this set?

Saturday already..

And thank Goodness for that!! I am totally ready for the weekend this week - I woke up yesterday feeling a little worn out and with a blinding headache.. so today, I'm going to take it easy and have a lovely relaxing time!

Well.. that's until I start preparing for our Craft Class on Tuesday. It's the last class this week until we return again in January, so I've got a few things to sort out for everyone.

As you know though, I was on Create and Craft the other day, and this is a project I did for the show..

I most definately didn't leave this sample behind... it's now sitting pride of place on my shelf in the Craft room.. I love this picture of Scoobs.. in fact, there's probably no picture of my woofers that I don't like, but this one is so lovely. The frame was created with acrylic paints and bubble wrap, and a decoupage was added to the corner.


I hope you like it.. xx

I did it...

This week has been quite a week I can tell you! It's gone by in a hurry, and at the end of it, I feel like I've drifted along without a definate start and end! I've got that confused I don't even know what day it is, let alone trying to get the old brain to function!

so.... what have I been upto?

Well, on Tuesday, as most of you know, I made my way down to Ideal World to guest present the Pick of the Day for Docrafts, with the lovely Sheila. I've done the journey many times, but never with Docrafts, so this was something new and a little bit daunting, as Docrafts are such a well known, and well loved company!

Anyway... here's the outside of Ideal World House at about half past six at night...

It looked rather lovely with all the lights on, if I must say. The little figure you can see walking to the building is Nancy Watt.. and we'd just had a laugh about the fact she'd forgot where she'd parked.. lol.

Our first show went out live at 9pm, and the presenter was Andy. A lovely chap who I've had the pleasure of working with before too. Here's a quick snap I got of Sheila and Andy taking a look at the CD which was the Pick of the Day.

We had quite a few shows to do, the 9pm one was followed by one at 11pm and another at 12am, so we basically got to our hotels and dropped into bed. Up again bright and early to get back to Ideal for another show at 8am.. and we worked our little socks off until 8pm on Wednesday.

It was a tiring day, but full of fun and laughter, and the highlight of the two days must've been my chat I had with Shaun... lol... the subject of Porn Star and Lap dancing were hilarious.. lol.

And then today.. I got an email from Erica who is the owner of the fab company, Odds and Soxlets, to inform me that I'd won her November challenge of having my Monkey sketches made into a digi stamp for her web site! I can't quite believe it!! I have also been invited to be part of her Design Team! 

So there you have it - this is what I've been upto this week... and next week, it's more fun time as I'm down in Bath for the filming of more Creativity TV for the Docrafts site.

You know.... I love my job!!!!