Treacherous roads

Well as the title says, the roads were treacherous here this morning. We had 4" snow overnight - laying on top of the ice that had formed first. No buses were running, so I took my daughter to work 5 miles away. What a horrid journey. None of the roads had been treated, not even the main A31 (after I dropped my daughter off at work at 9am, the snow ploughs started appearing). I drove extremely carefully, but still slid twice. This evening, the car also slid again. Fortunately, there was no contact with anything, so all is well, but since it is well below freezing again, the road conditions will be horrendous again tomorrow.

I apologise for the terrrible lighting on this card - it's tricky to take good photos at night lol

I made this for the lovely AuntySue from DC.

Papers are Papermania Hampstead by Jessie Edwards, ribbon effect is paper, cut from sheet by hand, then a thin strip of contrasting paper woven through it.

Image coloured with Promarkers

Stay safe, & warm everyone

Tfl, & for any comments you may care to leave.

Long, dark, winter days

Oh how I wish the days were not so dark (or so frosty in the morning), roll on next week, I can't wait for the days to start getting longer. I'm so cold tonight,& need to get approx another 20 Christmas cards made in the next 2 evenings! - realistically I don't know that I will achieve that though lol.

This is the card I made for my November friendship swap with the very talented Natalie from DC. The dial on the left of the card turns round to change the date in the little window.

Henry is such a cute mouse, & I could quite easily be persuaded to hold a cup of hot chocolate to warm my hands up with atm!

Papremania papers & brad

Image coloured with Promarkers, glazed with Anita's 3d gloss.

Tfl, & for any comments you may care to leave.

2 variations for birthdays

Gosh, it's been a while since I last blogged. There are always so many things to do at this time of year!

I am finally catching up with myself. I have written & posted the cards for abroad, & the cards I have written for those who wouldn't appreciate a handmade creation. I've finally bought the presents this week - & wrapped them! & today I have made 20 Christmas cards :-) I still have a few to do, & a few letters to write (not my favourite task, - & I don't produce a family newsletter, each letter is personal for the recipient).

My built in gas hob has packed up, I only have 1 ring working, so I have ordered a new one, & the fitter has promised to fit it before Christmas - otherwise cooking on one ring could be a whole new challenge lol (I'm lucky to have fab neighbours, but that could be pushing the limits lol)

I can now enjoy my Christmas work meal & "do" tonight without feeling guilty about all the things I have yet to do.

Right, onto a couple of birthday cards I made for friends I have met through the DC forum.

The brown card was made for the lovely Sueplayingwithpaper - a lovely lady, & she is so knowledgeable, & I am so grateful for her papercrafting advice & hints.

For both cards the image was created using 2 stamps

& coloured with Promarkers - & then edged with Promarkers

EZ success punch (coloured with Promarkers)

For the brown card, I used Papermania Hampstead papers by Jessie Edwards - the ribbon effect is in fact a strip of paper hand cut, with slits cut into it's length & a narrow strip of contrast paper woven through it.
                                                 Papermania 3D butterfly embellishment
 
                 The lilac card is made with Papermania Henbury Lane papers & has adhesive
                      ribbon flowers cut out singly & placed into position on the latticed area.  

This is for the lovely Tanmo, such a fab sense of humour - & her chocolate brownies are amazing!

Tfl, & for any comments you may care to leave

Ooops, I got it wrong

An altered version of the card I made yesterday

I was having great trouble finding a springer spaniel that was predominantly brown - until it was pointed out to me that the spaniel should be white with brown ears & rump, so here is the new version.

The brown appears darker here than in the flesh, but it is still darker than I would like as I appear to be having problems with my printer, & even though it was lightened in photoshop it is still darker than it appears to be on screen :-(

This is the sentiment that Willie wanted for Jacqui

Tfl, & for any comments you may care to leave

Riverbank reflection

I was asked to make this card

The spec was that it had to include:

 1. a watery scene on the inside

2. A gatefold card with windows to represent French doors

3. A brown springer spaniel with a white tummy on the front

4. It has to be pink

There is a sentiment on a panel on the back of the card

SU stamp - reflection made using a brayer & repeated to create the river bank across the width of the card, then positive image stamped above the reflected image

Masks used to protect areas of card not being worked on.

Big & juicy ink pad (Soothing Sunset) used with brayer to create sky & water

Grass sponged with 3 shades of green, bank sponged with 2 shades of brown SU ink

Sun & reflected image sponged with orange

Clarity stamps & SU stamps used for foliage at base of insert.

Springer spaniel image sponged with 2 shades of SU brown inks (leaving tummy white) 

I hope that this is ok for both the person who requested it, & for the recipient

Tfl, & for any comments you may care to leave

More craft fayre stock pics

Here are the last of the photos my daughter took of my craft fayre table

I made about 30 of the covered notebooks & pencils in various designs. They proved to be quite popular.

I had made both large & small decorated candles, but none of them sold this year.

You can also see the reindeer food & the snowman soup on the table

These cupcakes went down well. I made 24 of them & had 6 with lipsalves in them. I still have quite a few left though - must get more lipsalves as those seemed more popular

I made 24 of these countdown to Christmas cards & made sure I demoed what they were to people who stopped to take a look at my table as it is not obvious what they are at first glance, nor how they work. 

I made a dozen of the pint of socks & sold 4. A nice novel way of giving men the dreaded "socks for Christmas" lol

Unfortunately I ran out of time & only made 2 easel calendars, but maybe that was a good thing as no one was interested in any cards & they didn't sell!

Now the fayre is over, I really must have a good tidy up of my home, doing all the things that have been neglected while I was doing all the preparaions for the fayre - & basically reclaiming it from where my craft equipment & stash seems to have taken over. lol After that I can start my own Christmas preparations & do the crafting I want to do.

Tfl. & for any comments you may care to make.

Calorie free cakes

A few close ups of some of the stock I had on my table at the craft fayre

Nappy cakes, a towel cake, swiss rolls, cupcakes (made from fluffy socks & lipsalve) & covered notebooks, plus some decorated candles

Closer detail of some nappy cakes & candles

The cracker was filled with Celebration chocolates - I made 24 & sold 2!

Some of the cards - none of them sold

Also a few horse bookmarks

Tfl, & for any comments you may care to leave

Craft induced sleep deprivation!

This is the reason for my lack of posts & comments on blogs recently

I had a table at a local craft fayre today & much of my time recently has been taken up with creating stock for my table. I didn't get to bed until 2.30 am today as I was making flannel swiss rolls (I didn't sell a single one lol). I was so worried about not having enough stock, but needn't have been worried - you can't see what wouldn't fit on the table! I was so fortunate that my middle daughter took a days holiday to come & help me, her wages were a bacon butty, chocolate bar - & numerous other things which seem to being added to, including a new pair of washing up gloves lol. I didn't sell any cards - 2 cardmakers asked me questions (did I use a die cutter & what do I use to colour my images), but other than that there was no interest in my cards, & I don't think that they were overpriced. I covered the cost of my table & took more besides, so I was happy (though I didn't quite get to the target I had set myself). I have got a table booked at a ladies evening at a local school soon, so hope to sell some more stock, & a friend asked me for a neutral coloured nappy cake this evening which I had already made up for todays fayre :-)

I'm going to head off to bed very shortly (matchsticks will not work today), but will be back to catching up with your lovely blogs & leaving comments again as soon as I can.

tfl & for any comments you may care to leave

I'm forever blowing bubbles

I love this stamp, & decided to use a simple approach for this card.

Papers are from stash (sure they're called Sienna Collection,

but I'm too cold to move from here atm to find out)

Bubbles extended beyond main image using dots of Anita's 3D gloss,

with glamour dust sprinkled over ( it made the ink bleed though)

Detail of lower part of the card

Tfl, & for any comments you may care to leave

Teenage rocker

Not my best piece,  as this is one of the cards I made with my arm in the splint when my wrist was broken &

some of the distress ink is in the white area as I wasn't able to hold the mask still enough while I was dusting the distress ink onto the card.

Swirls around edge are made using a HOTP stamp

Boy stamp is by Inkadinkado

Tfl, & for any comments you may care to leave

Prickles in the rain

Isn't this Tina Wenke stamp cute.

I have no idea why, but when I was looking through my stamps recently, I noticed how many stamps had umbrellas featured on them - & I hate the rain!

Backgound papers are: purple - Kate Knight, pink - freebie from mag

Cardstock from stash

Image coloured with Promarkers

Raindrops - Anita's 3D gloss & Glamour Dust 

Close up of image

Tfl, & for any comments you may choose to leave

Skateboard Dude

Quick card, made for a 7 yr old

Image coloured with Promarkers, white gel pen for highlights

Mats cut with nesties

Papermania papers

Sentiment ticket from Caz, coloured with distress inks

Closer view of skateboarder

Tfl, & also for any comments you may care to leave

Numerical Tilda

Made for a friend's birthday.

I've had this black & white DCWV paper for a while now, but struggled with ideas for how to use this sheet.

This Tilda in the bright colours seemed to work quite well with it.

The other papers are a mix of DCWV & Papermania

Coloured with Promarkers

HOTP Sentiment

Tfl, & for any comments you may care to leave

Oriental lady

I made this for a lady we've known for many years whose family live in Japan.

I racked my brain for ideas for her birthday card & came up with this.

I masked the image & sponged the sun (2 colours), then masked the sun &

sponged the background & the backing card with 2 shades of ink. Edges inked.

Dovecraft papers (oriental)

A very simple idea really - hope she likes her card

tfl, & for any comments you may care to leave

A mouseful of cake

Well, it's not often I can think of a catchy title, but today this one just popped into my head!

Made for a 2 yr old's birthday

The striped paper is a scrap of paper & I can't bear to waste scraps, so I was quite pleased to be able to use one of my scraps - as for the rest ............... lol

House Mouse image coloured with Promarkers,

Shape cut with nesties

Papermania papers

tfl, & for any commetns you may care to leave

Rabbit love

A very late night waiting for my daughter to return from babysitting last night meant I was crafting at silly o'clock -with matchsticks lol  & I came up with this (just as well - it has to go in the post today!)

Messy Rabbit image coloured with Promarkers

DCWV papers - Garden Party

Flower stamp from Craft Stamper mag (gift) 

Ticket sentiment from Caz

Edges of image & ticket inkied with distress inks

tfl & for any comments you may care to leave

Ink pad storage using washing tablet boxes

I had a fab day crafting with friends in Bristol on Sunday.

Sue had this fab idea & if you'd like to see what she made, you can find it on her blog here

We made some fab storage for some of our craft stash - from washing tablet boxes!

Fab storage for my ink pads, I'm really pleased with this one

(can you tell this is my second attempt?)

Sideways view

And from the other side

This is the box I made on Sunday - my first attempt

And one from the side again (not it's best side lol)

Huge thanks to Sueplayingwith paper for the inspiration & for working out the necessary measurements

Papers used are Kate Knight by Dovecraft

tfl, & for any comments you may wish to leave

variations on a theme

I have two variations of a card for you today.

The technique for both was the same, I just varied the colours & the stamped image

This card is fo my 19 year old nephew

I used the same colours for each of the pieces of card, but there is more red on the main image

Clear Inkadinkado stamps used

Distress inks in: Barn Door, Mustard Seed & Tumbled Glass

Embossing folders: Diamonds in the rough & Script texture 

Close up of the main part of card

Close up of the ticket sentiment, from here, thanks Caz, these are great

This is the second card, made at my daughter's request for her colleague

Distress inks used are: Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans, Barn Door

Embossing folders are Script texture, & Papermania's Victorian Fleur .

Ticket sentiment from Caz, as above.

Close up of the main image

tfl, & for any comments you may care to leave

Orange Tilda

Made for my sister's birthday

Tilda , embellishments & border of frames coloured with Promarkers

Papermania Capsule papers

Papermania punch

Nesties for frames

Anita's 3D gloss

White gel pen for highlights 

Having just bought a white gel pen, I was keen to use it, I can't believe the difference it made!

I put this Tilda on the inside of the card. That wasn't part of the original plan. Originally I had planned to use the out of frame technique with a round Nellie Snellen die, but cut Tilda's legs off by mistake! So I used the Nellie Snellen die to frame Tilda & stuck her on the inside of the card - didn't want to waste all that time I'd spent on the image lol.

tfl, & for any comments you may wish to leave

Ghouls just wanna have fun

This is the second page I made at last weekends crop, using the same sketch as the Adopt a monster page

Papers used are Bo Bunny (I love their papers)

Tag coloured with distress inks

Photo is a composite made from 4 other photos & made in photoshop, using  photos of the house & skeleton  from Phantom Manor, bats from Marwell zoo & the sky/background. I think it adds to the atmosphere of this attraction.

tfl, & for any comments you may wish to leave

Adopt a monster

I went to a scrapbookimg crop for the first time today.

We were given a sketch to use for inspiration. I haven't really used sketches before, but found it was a great way to make me think in a different way.

I made my first page of our EuroDisney trip.

I had bought these papers with the intention that the bright colours might be good for the Disney album.

I really liked the horizontal stripes on the paper & felt that they complimented the horizontal lines of the building in the background, but I didn't like them going in the same direction, so angled the photo.

My daughter has such a cheeky expression in this photo, "Monster" sums her up (not really lol)

SU border punch used for both border & squares