Beautiful Sherri stamps.....

Good morning all...

I know I regularly promise to keep this old blog upto date, but things just seem to get in the way (as they do!!)

So... what's happened this last few weeks.. well, to start with it's been Easter, so spent a little time doing not alot combined with some bits for work on and off... I made some wreaths and treats that I will share on another post, had a bit of time with family, went away... had a poorly wooflet that needed a couple of ops, but is now all sorted and running fit as a fiddle. 

And finally I'm back here... to share these. 

The stamps and dies are part of a bundle that I have bought to Hochanda as part of the Joycrafts shows today, and I think they work together absolutely perfectly. They are so sweet. 

The images are by Sherri Baldy, one of my favourite stamp designers I must say, and if you look through my blog, I'm sure you will come by a few of the things I have made with her stamps in the past. She is a lovely lady too - such a sweetheart. Anyway... back to the subject in hand... and as you can see, we had a choice of two stamps available today. The one above I think is my favourite as it has woolly hair that is just adorable. 

I used the no lines colouring technique, by stamping with a Desert Sand Momento ink and colouring in with copic markers. I still love to spend the time adding freckles to the cheeks with gel pens, so this just finishes it off nicely. 

The card below is a larger card, 8x8" and has Graphic 45 papers that I found, and decided to use for the background. The colours were really nice and bright - just perfect for a summery card. Well, I say summer in the broadest sense of the word as we had snow yesterday!!!!

On this card, I used the other lovely Sherri image, and stamped it and coloured with copics again. I chose to use one of the corners from the show to create the rectangular frame that goes around the outside edge of the image. Just by placing them together and overlapping you will be able to cover a larger area with a more squarer format. We did the circular die in this too - and it had some beautiful daisy type flowers in it.. just nip off to Hochanda to check out the shows - they were on today at 7am, 1pm and 3pm. 

Something a little bit different on this one for you... a pencil toned image. Stamped in Tuxedo black and shaded with HB and 6B pencils. I also added a little bit of sepia coloured pencil too for a dash of tone to the image. 

The dies around the image - the bubbles - are coming up at 3pm - and make a lovely background to your designs if you aren't really into flowers and flourishes. 

Well... that's it for today, but I hope that you can check back to see my other posts... I have them lined up and ready, they just need to have the PUBLISH button pressed.. 

Until then... Happy Crafting!

Little Angel...

Yes, I'm afraid I'm in full Christmas card swing now... and it's been really lovely to get time to sit and make some, and also share my makes on here with you all. 

So, what have I got to share with you all today? Well, it's this sweetheart here. The cutest little Angel there ever was. You can paper piece her, stamp and colour her, doodle in her, the choice is entirely upto you. 

But on this card below, I chose to colour her in very simply using my new Colourista pens and pencils - and as you can see, they work amazingly well. 

There are a few different things I've used on this card, and I will be sure to list them at the end of the post. 

These fab little sentiment tiles would have been so easy to make had I thought about it, but I didn't, so a random purchase a while ago from Hobbycraft bought them home with me, ready for that perfect card.

So here she is - my little Angel, in all her finery. I will list all details at the end. But as you can see, the base colouring was done by stamping in Momento, as I was using permanent colours to colour in.  

I coloured in using the Spectrum Noir Colourista pencils and pens. I found the pens to be lovely with the brush nib - very precise. And then topped it up with the pencils too to deepen the shades. 

On this pic, you can see where I opted to use the foils that I recieved from Stix 2. These are nice and so easy to use too.... and lovely to enable you to add a bit of luxury. 

So - here's your step by steps etc. 

1. Take your 8" x 8" card and cut some gold mirror card and patterned paper slightly smaller in layers using your Layer Perfect tool. Stick these together and attach to the card blank. 
2. Take a contrast paper and cut out with a circle using your Layer Perfect tool too. Really easy to do this!
3. Cut a strip of gold mirror card to around 2" wide x 7.25" long. Cut a piece of patterned paper to 1.75" wide x 7.25" long and stick together. Wrap a length of ribbon around the whole piece and then attach to the card. 
4. Stamp your image using Momento Tuxedo Black and colour in with your chosen pens or pencils. Add some sparkle with your Sakura pens. 
5. If you take your Stix 2 2 in 1 glue pen, draw around the pieces you want to foil and leave to go clear. (It goes on blue - permanent adhesive, dries clear - temporary adhesive) Then pop your foil sheet over the top and rub over to adhere the foil to the glue. 
6. Cut out leaving a small border, then layer onto a piece of mirror card. Trim to leave a small border. You can measure this very easily using the Layer Perfect. 
7. Attach the angel topper to your card using Stix 2 silicone adhesive. *I opted to use silicone because you have different depths underneath the topper, so the silicone will adjust the height accordingly*
8. Finish your card by adding a bow to match your ribbon, a central flower and a board sentiment. I also added a wooden heart and some pearl drops around the design. 

I hope the steps make sense... really, you can just have a play with the topper once you have coloured her in, or paper pieced her. She will look beautiful whichever way you play with the stamp. 

Here are the bits I've used in my card. I would love to see what you have made... please share! xxx

SHOPPING LIST

Stix2 S57321 Layer Perfect Tool

Stix2 S572269 Tape Runner

Stix2 S57109 Transfer Foil

Stix2 2 in 1 glue pen

Stix2 S57100 Silicone Adhesive

Woodware FRS223 Patch Angel stamp

Sakura Stardust pens

Colourista pens and pencils

Momento ink - Tuxedo Black (if using alcohol pens. Stazon if watercolouring)

Dovecraft Winter Blooms paper pack

Hobbycraft Mini Christmas Signs

Hobbycraft Wooden Heart Topper

Birthday cuties....

Helloooooo y'all... 

How are you??

I've had a pretty busy week this week, preparing for my first ever show over on Hochanda - a little bit nerve wracking but everything was lovely, and the folks there are wonderful. Great atmosphere, familiar faces and a kettle. What more does a girl need, right?

Apart from being busy, I was creating a couple of cards to send off to my beautiful daughter for her birthday. I made two as she has a little furry friend in the family who dotes and loves her to pieces - that is our Scoobs. Her baby. He loves her to bits... but more on that later... 

The stamps I chose to use are Woodware and I chose the turtle and the puppy. The turtle is a private joke from years ago when she was in the air cadets lol, and this stamp is just so perfect. I love it. The little cheeky expression on his face is so cute. 

I coloured him with copics (I can give you the numbers if you need them) and added some shadows and white highlights for details. 

of course, all of my little characters have to have blushy cheeks - it's the law! So, he was given his blush and some white highlights to his eyes and cheeks to add some sparkle. This card was from the grown ups. 

The card below, was from the furbabies. Namely Mr Scoobs. lol. 

I coloured him in so he looked sorta spaniel coloured, and used the same paper pad as above so that the cards matched. The layouts I kept quite simple on both, as I didn't want to deter away from the great images. They make the focal point on any card. 

Again, I used the copics to colour, if you want to know the colours, just ask. I do have them written down. I added sparkle to the hearts, a few dots to the blushy cheeks and eyes and some details along the ribbon and top borders. 

Inside the card, Scoobs managed to 'paw' his little sentiment - yes really, all by his own fair pawsies! He even sent his favouritest person a gravy bone inside the card too. lol. She loved it and it made her giggle. 

I hope you like today's cards... they were so easy to make with the quality of the stamps, and I totally enjoyed getting back into my colouring (something I have missed of late!) 

I will be back soon to share a few more projects with you, but until then, Happy Crafting!!!

Bella-issimo.....

Oh Bella.... sweet little Bella... such a cutiepie isn't she? 

Hi all... Today I'm sharing another stampy-coloury-image from the Reflections collection by Tonic and this time it's little Bella that is making her appearance. I love everything about this fairy, from her little feather, to the haircut which reminds me of my daughter's when she was this age, to the oversized shoes that she's happily poddling about in... just wonderful. 

When I started the card, I chose to colour the image with Nuvo pens that matched in with the colours within the topper I chose. So, I used the lighter yellow, 401, and the greens. 

I wanted to place the sentiment underneath the frame and have the fairy Bella sneaking a little look into it, which is why I chose one of our frame dies to pop on the frontage of the card. I used foam pads to lift the frame away from the sentiment, and again on the fairy to give her a little more depth on the card too. 

As you can see, I added some glitter glue to her wings to add a little bit of sparkle, and also to the feather and headband in her hair. Once all the flowers were stuck in place and the card was more or less finished, I chosed some of our fantastic Tonic Nuvo drops in Crushed Grape colour, and placed some dots into the centres of the flowers on the frame. 

I must admit, I'm not one for a busy card, but I love how this one turned out... and as usual, it had to pass the 'sitting on the craft desk for 24 hours to see if I still like it the following day' test. And it did. So here you are. 

You can be the judges to see if you like it too. I hope you do, as I thoroughly enjoyed colouring little Bella and giving her a little Character. I imagined all the little things that she would get upto.... but then that's another blog post for another day!

Until next time....

Happy Crafting everyone xxxx

Upon reflection.....

Hi everyone... 

This week has been a bit of a 'blurgh' for me... I've not been very well, and had  shows in Peterborough with these fantastic sets of  Reflections dies and stamps. How cute are they?! I have thoroughly enjoyed playing working with them. 

I'm getting better now, but think I had a bit of the ol' flu bug - very achy, sore all over, eyes were squinty, and I was grumpy. Ok... grumpy isn't part of the flu, but me + ill = grumpy Jojo!

But you know what they say - "When Life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, give life a thousand reasons to smile." So, feeling ill, grumpy, and everything else besides, I am giving myself lots of reasons to smile - beginning with this gorgeous little thing below. 

Let me introduce you to Cerys. She is one of our little Reflections set. This is the stamped image that comes with the collection, in which you will get seven design dies, seven verso edges, seven character stamps and the book of toppers (30 in all, 3 of each seven fairies and 3 of three different verses). 

On this card, I opted to do a half easel card, using the stamped image and one of the toppers from the book.  The side where the verse is placed was left flat, and the fairy image created the easel. 

I took great delight in colouring little Cerys. She is so sweet and the teddy is super cutesy! I used a mixture of blues and browns for the colouring, to match in with the verse topper. The pens I used were the Tonic Nuvo pens. If anyone wants to know colours I have used, please ask and I will list them below for you. 

I blended the wings of the fairy into the colours of the dress, then I added some silver dotty highlights to give her a little bit of shine. This was from the metallics set. 

I just love this image, it's supercute and really suits my style. The stamps are so simple to colour - no very small areas to get stuck with, they are very open designs and not too intricate which is perfect for new crafters. 

Did you buy the Reflections collection? Have you received it and had a play? 

Show me what you came up with - I would love to see. 

I will be back tomorrow with another little card to share. So until then, 

Happy Crafting everyone! 

xxxx

Me turtle...

Hello all.... a bit of a long post from me tonight..... have you got your tea?

Yes.. it's a funny ol' title for a blog post, but yes, I often feel like a turtle. And I would be happy if I was half as cute as this little guy... 

So why do I feel like a turtle?

Well, not for many reasons really, other than anxiety and panic attacks, and low vitamin B12 are usually to blame! Something I've come to realise over the past however-many-years that worrying about things you can't change does you no good at all. 

For a long time, like many out there, I feel I'm not good enough, I can't do it, have little self confidence and how sometimes you feel like you could just walk away from it all. 

There was a quote on Pinterest once, that sort of summed it up .... "Noone knows how many times I've lost hope. How many times I've been let down. Nobody knows how many times I've felt like I'm about to snap. But I don't. For the sake of others. Nobody knows the thoughts that go through my head when I'm sad, how horrible they truly are. Nobody. Knows. Me"

It's a horrible feeling... you can't make people understand, can't make anyone understand what is happening inside of you, especially when you can't explain it to yourself sometimes.. I often feel like my anxiety has anxiety!!!

However.. this last couple of weeks has given me an awakening of some sorts. I've actually managed to take my tablets regularly - upped the dose when I felt necesssary - and am feeling in control of things that went beyond my control. I've been talking to the hubby about how I feel and he's put me right on a few things. He's shown me the way, and although I'm not saying it's easy - it's definately helped to start opening up about things. 

I know there are many people out there who see me doing my job, and think I'm full of confidence, like other crafters out there, but we are not all confident. We are not all in control of what we think we should be thinking... it's difficult when you're in the anxiety phase to just 'get over it' or 'just get on with it' or 'just talk about it'. It's hard to even 'stop thinking like that' because 'it's stupid'.. because to us it is rational. 

So.. that's why I'm a turtle. I've grown up. I used to be an ostrich... I stuck my head in the sand and pretended things weren't happening... but now, I can retract into my shell and watch and learn and come out when it's safe. I'm happy being a turtle. 

Anyways... onto my little make for today... and yes. My little turtle fella... Isn't he cute. He's a woodware stamp and I thought it was just perfect to go with this little border from Be Creative. The 3d borders have always been a favourite but you can't often get them these days - there are a few from Be Creative at the moment, but others are in the pipeline I have been told.... !

He was coloured in with their alcohol markers and as I didn't have a blender pen to add the mottling on his skin, I just opted for a very pale grey to dot and dab, which sort of did the same thing. 

Of course he had to have little sparkly eyes and rosy cheeks, all finished off with a little dab of a white gel pen to add highlights - I don't know where I would be without my white gel pen!

As you can see, I made this a central stepper card. The papers were from the Nature pack of the Be Creative papers and so were the buttons. The border I added some extra adhesive to the base of the strip and took my anti static bag to 'un-sticky' the top section so it didn't catch when the card was closed.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this little card. It's around A5 in size, maybe a little smaller, but a great size for the stamp.

I hope it inspires you a little.... and just one last thing - as some people have asked - NO.. I haven't left Tonic, I am merely satisfying my thirst for colouring. Something I let go when I had my bad anxiety problems a while ago.

I have found it helps to sit, colour, and relax and do something just for ME. I'm sure you understand.

Until next time... xxx

It's a Pick of the Day time.....

Hi all.... 

It's been a few days since I was able to get on and share a few things with you, so tonight I thought I would make it worth your while and show you some of my samples for tomorrow night's Pick of the Day from Tonic, which is being bought to you by Jodie. 

I have waited so long to be able to play with these beautiful products, and I'm sure you are going to love them totally too!

They are the Double Detail die and Stencil sets - as you can see, you get the die to cut the pattern and also the stencil which you can use paste, inks or as a general draw-through stencil. 

As you can see, there are four sets in the collection and each of them are as lovely as the other... although, I must admit, I think this one below has to be my favourite... This one is the Aztec Allium. 

To begin with on this card, I stamped my image along some white stamping cardstock and coloured it in with the Nuvo pens. I had heat embossed with the Tonic embossing powder - and I admit, it's the nicest black fine powder I have found! And I've tried a few!!!

I then used the die from the set to cut two pieces out of black card and reversed one to face the opposite way. These were then placed onto the card, with the edges tucked tight against the previous layer, but with the centre sections a little more dimensional. 

You can see I also cut the wings from some of the butterflies to enable them to 'flutter' on the card. I added nuvo drops to finish the edges. 

The next card I want to show you uses the Decorative Daffodil. This was a very simple card, so if you are new to cardmaking you will find it easy to replicate this card. 

The strip across the top was cut from a small piece of cardstock, then embossed with the mat that comes with your machine. 

Whilst the stencil was in place, I took a little finger dauber and some ink and lightly brushed over the design to accent the embossing detail a bit more. It also added a little bit of colour to the card, so with it being black, white and another colour, you can change it to male or female, older or younger. The design is so generic. 

You can see the embossing detail and colouring here a little bit more. To finish the card, I used a little bit of glitter and glue and a whilte gel pen to go around the outside edges. It was simply matted and layered onto the base. 

So... you know me.... I love my colouring... and I had to find a way to incorporate the dies / stencils with colouring... and here it is!

I took the stencil from the pack and used a very fine black pen to draw in through the lines of the stencil. I then coloured in the lines to give them an edge. 

I used water based pens - Tim Holtz distress inks - to colour the designs in so it gave it a lighter look. 

I added glitter around the outside edge, then placed my whole card together using papers from our Tonic range.

Here's your little close up of the daffodils so you can see them more clearly. 

I hope this post has inspired you to look past the dies, and see what else you can do with this little collection.... 

I will be back soon to share a few more posts with you from these beautiful sets. 

Until then.... Happy Crafting!!!