Beads beautiful beads...

Hello again!! :)

I’m back to (properly!) show you the bracelet there was a sneak of in my earlier post- it was made to go with that card for a purple loving friend’s birthday a little while ago but I wasn’t able to post either at the time...

It’s an idea that I’ve seen around in quite a few places and thought these giant (Size 2/0 for those that are familiar with such things!! :) ) seed beads would be perfect for.

It’s very simple and needs only the beads and some large (7mm) jump rings to create... I just made a chain from the jumps and then attached more jumps with beads on them to the chain :) It didn’t take too long to make, either, though opening and closing all those thick and rather stiff jumps was a tad hard on the hands and I’ll do it in even more stages next time!! ;) But that’s the joy of jewellery making- it is much easier than some other crafts to pick up and put down as the mood (or energy/pain level) takes you!! :) Plus, the stash piles to find space for are considerably smaller than for papercrafting!!lol

So very simple that I can’t think of anything else to say to go with all the piccies I took!!lol My excuse is that my camera hates purple beads and none of the pics looked true to colour at the time... but then I found I could get a true colour while I was editing them last night and now I can’t choose which I like best!!lol

This style of bracelet may be simple but it moves really nicely and feels lovely in your hand or on your wrist :)

Well, while I know that most of you are more into cards than jewellery, I hope you’ve enjoyed a bit of a change of scene tonight as much as I enjoyed a change of craft when I made it!! :) There are some more of my jewellery pieces if you click on ‘Jewellery’ in the Labels if you fancy seeing more!! :) Thanks for stopping by and for any comments you leave- I really do appreciate every one :)

Puss in Purple Boots...

Hello everyone!! :)

I wasn’t sure which of the cards I have stored up on my netbook just waiting to share with you I wanted to show next but I realised I had several which would fit perfectly with the Monochrome challenge over at Dream Valley and, in the end, I’ve chosen this one which has a matching gift and was made for a friend- who has a cute little cat called Puss and loves purple as much as me!! :) – a little while ago...

I’ll post the details of the bracelet properly in another post later but I took this pic as they went so well together so thought I’d show it :)

I used the most gorgeous purple papers from the Papermania Henbury Lane pack for this one- I’d been wanting these papers for a long while- mostly because of these beautiful purples!! :) - when I found them half price... and so I bought two!!lol Glad I did as well as they are all lovely!! :)

The adorable image is from LOTV and coloured with PMs- I had just bought some new purples to see if I could get a better blend than I had managed with the shades I had and I coloured several of these images with different combinations- I have since managed to use most of them but I can’t say I was really happy with any of the blends I got- I think this one could have been a bit pinker to go better with the papers :S  ...still, practise makes perfect, as they say, and I think I’ve managed better since so at least I’m heading in the right direction!!lol Great stamp to practise on, too with the nice open area in the boot with some soft folds to aim for- must have another go with it!! :) Oh, I also tried the dotty shadow technique I’d been seeing a lot of around Blogland at the time- I like it... but boy was it hard on the hands and long winded!! Maybe not for everyday, anyway!!lol

I inked the edges of all the layers a tiny bit with Dusty Concorde DI straight from the pad and added the little bit of seam binding and a pretty pearl slider in the darker shade to match the ink and provide some contrast :)

The gems are some beautiful Aroura Borealis coated ones I got from Crafty Emma’s along with the CLP sentiment stamp in the summer and they go perfectly with these papers :)

I used:

• 6” Sq. Card blank
• LOTV Puss in Boot image- stamped in Memento and coloured with ProMarkers (don’t remember the colours, I’m afraid, as it was all very hit-and-miss experimental and too long ago!! :S )
• Papermania Henbury Lane papers
• Nellie’s rectangle and Doily dies
• Seam binding from The Ribbon Girl
• Pearl Ribbon Slider
• Dusty Concorde Distress Ink
• Cat’s Life Press sentiment stamp
• AB coated purple gems
• Sakura Clear Stardust and Clear Glaze pens

So, all in all, I was really pleased with how this one came out- especially as I’d managed to include so many different things I’d not tried/used before!! :) And, of course, the fact it’s all in my fav purples helped- don’t seem to craft with purples that often!! :) Hope you like it too!! :)

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Dream Valley – Monochrome :) ; LOTV - Warm and Cosy (I bet that little kitty’s very cosy tucked up in one of his owner’s best boots!!lol) :) ; Papertake Weekly – Get In Shape (use three or more different shapes- I have rectangles, circles- the doily- and a square for my base) :)

If you’d like to see more of the bracelet then I’ll hopefully be back with that later on tonight- want to get this posted before I miss the challenge though!! :)

Hope you’re all okay and enjoying the weekend so far- it’s been lovely and sunny here all day which always makes things seem better, doesn’t it!?! :)

The Sweetest Snowpeople and time to be inspired at My Partner in Crafting Crime :)

Hello there!! :)

Well, it’s the start of another week- and what a wet, windy and miserable start it’s been!!- and time for our next challenge at My Partner inCrafting Crime!! :) This time we have a fab Inspiration Photo to get your creative juices flowing:

Photo from Pinterest

There are so many ways you could go from this picture- just go and have a look at the variety created by the rest of the fab DT on the PCC blog to see what I mean!! :) You could take the house, colours, the distressed look, wood/bricks, trees,  the autumnal feeling... or so many other possibilities and I can’t wait to see all the different interpretations you come up with!! :) I kind of proved my own point with all the ideas I had for this card- I wanted to go ‘Haunted House-y’ for Hallowe’en but the image I had was a digi and I’m having an ongoing argument with my printer at the mo’ (ink keeps smearing when I try to colour :( ) so that couldn’t happen, then I thought I’d try a new home card, but it just wasn’t working out... so I wasn’t sure where to go next- until I happened across some gorgeous MME papers buried on my desk which had all the colours in the pic and a fab sketch from the Sugar Bowl... and idea number three took hold!! :) We are sponsored by the fab Bows & Berries again this time and the winner will get to chose three of their gorgeous images!! :)

Now, I must say, it didn’t really come out the way I’d imagined and I’m not altogether sure if I like it- I think that may be because the colour combo is so far out of my usual comfort-zone (I only tend to use red with black and white for a start!!lol) but that’s the fun of challenges, isn’t it- to push yourself a bit?!! :)

I just had to have this fab image from Sugar Nellie’s recent Christmas release- it makes me smile every time I see it... think it’s the snowman’s twiggy hair that does it but the whole image is just so sweet!! :) I coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers- the Flexs made it so much easier to get a paler shade on the snowmen, too :) I find it tricky to use so many colours in an image as I find it hard to get a balance of colour but I tried to think before I coloured a lot more this time and, while I don’t love it and it took a lot longer, I do think it’s worth trying it this way again!! :) I of course added plenty of Stickles and Clear Stardust to it to get a real snowy sparkle!!  Have ordered some Glamour Dust, too, as I keep seeing it used and, if it can look so good in people’s pics, it should be amazing in real life!! Hope so- and hope the postie gets a wriggle on so I can use it on my next snowy card!!lol

All the papers came from the same MME Snowed in pad- free with a mag last month and it’s utterly gorgeous!! :) - and this greeting is also cut from one of the sheets with a teeny gem and some glitter to add interest :) The snowflake were cut on my Cricut and spritzed with shimmer mist :)

This pic is just to show the Stardust pen better on the snowmen's bodies- I drew on a line of pen then quickly smudged it out with my finger for a more subtle effect :)

The List:

• 6” Sq. cream card blank
• Christmas Garland image from Sugar Nellie’s Home Grown range, stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa
• ProMarkers and Flexmarkers: (there were a lot of them and I don’t remember which colours were for which areas in some cases but I’ll list the combos I do remember!!lol) Snowmen- Soft Aqua (FM), Tea Green and Powder Blue and a Copic Blender then Antique White FM all over to tone down the white a bit; Leaves- Pear Green, Moss Forest Green and Gold (in different orders/amounts for the holly and the mistletoe); Decorations and hat- Berry Red, Cardinal Red, Burgundy and Honeycomb, Tulip Yellow, Gold and Honeycomb, Cinnamon and Cocoa. I have a few others in my box but don’t know what I used them for!! :S
• Distress Inks: Weathered Wood, Tumbled Glass and Antique Linen around the image and more AL on all the paper edges, snowflakes and ribbon
• My Mind’s Eye Snowed In paper pad
• Lables One Nesties
• Scissors to distress the papers
• Cream Seam Binding
• Snowflakes cut on my Cricut from the ‘When It’s Cold Outside’ cartridge
• Perfect Pearls Pearl shimmer mist
• Stardust and Frosted Lace Stickles, Clear Stardust and Clear Glaze Sakura pens
• Pearls and gems

I’d like to enter this card in the following challenges: The SugarBowl - great sketch by Gayle :) ; Stamptacular Sunday – So Distressing! :) ; AGem of a Challenge – With Love at Christmas (with a heart) :) ; CES – Seeing Red (I hope there’s enough red here- it’s a lot for me!!lol- but if not then please delete me!! :) ) :) ; Little Claire’s – Christmas :) ; OSCC – Anything Goes :) ; Secret Crafter – Anything Goes as long as it Sparkles!! :) ; Winter Wonderland – Autumn Colours :)

Thanks for popping by today and for all the lovely comments on my last cards!! :) Hope the rotten weather didn’t spoil anybody’s weekends too badly!! :S Certainly ‘Monday’ kind of weather today, isn’t it!?!lol Let’s hope the sun comes back soon!! :) Will hopefully be back again soon with another couple of the cards I’ve been wanting to post but this week’s shaping up to be as hectic as last so we’ll see!! :S Please do pop over to PCC to check out all the inspirational ideas from that one photo!! :)

Friends Make Life Blossom and getting sentimental at Forever Friends...

Hello!! :)

How on earth is it already October!?!!! I don’t know where this year has gone again- I’m not even sure it’s worth worrying about Christmas cards and gifts, you know- it’ll probably have passed us by and be well into next year by the time I blink again!! :/ Can you tell I’ve not got many Xmas cards made yet?!! Not even thought about gifts, handmade or otherwise, either!! Time to panic, did you say?!! Yeah, just what I was thinking!!lol

Anyway, rant (mostly!) out of my system, I’ll get back to what started that train of thought, which is of course that- as it is the first Thursday of another month- it is time for another new challenge over at Forever Friends& Co. :) This month we’d like to see you ‘Use A Sentiment’ :) You could make the sentiment/quote the main focus of your creation with just a small animal image but, if that’s not your thing then we’ll be happy just so long as there’s a sentiment on there somewhere- how easy is that!?! :) We are sponsored this month by Crafts U Love who are offering a £15 gift voucher to the lucky winner plus, if you’re chosen as the FF Favourite, you get the opportunity to guest design with us, too :)

So, just to make this a bit more of a challenge, I thought I’d try using a more wordy sentiment than my usual run-of-the-mill 'Happy Birthday' types and I went with a lovely one from a new (to me) Aspects of Design stamp sheet- and, of course, one of those adorable bears!! :)

I kept it all pretty clean and simple again- I’m really into CAS again at the mo’ and can’t seem to get anything more fussy to come out the way I want!!lol :S I chose the colour scheme based on the blossom flower idea and then, more specifically, on the pink seam binding I wanted to use :) I also used one of my new On The Edge card blanks (love these!!), which I think work really well to add interest to a simple card :)

I coloured using a mixture of ProMarkers and FlexMarkers... and I did terrible job of it, too!! :S Don’t know what the problem was that night (might have been something to do with the distraction caused by the giant spiders that kept appearing in my room- I have a serious phobia which has only been worsened by not being able to just get up and run away- not a fun few days in my house!! :S ) but, whatever it was, I made a right mess of the bear- I was using the same colours as always, but because this card was so simple and quick to put together, I had the whole thing assembled before it had dried enough for me to realise how bad it was!! So, I tried to fix it in situ by taking out the colour with a paler pen and trying again, and I think the poor thing’s looking a little jaundiced/tangoed and badly blended as a result- just didn’t have the energy to pull the whole thing apart and start again and I think to have added a 3Ded bear over the top might have looked odd on so simple a card :S

A close up of the sentiment, which I inked in two colours with dew drop/cat’s eye ink pads so as to have a pink flower :) Also loving the teeny gems I found while browsing online recently :)

The List:

• Craftwork Cards On The Edge Scalloped 6” Sq. card blank
• Forever Friends image, stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa and coloured with ProMarkers and FlexMarkers (I had such a mess of pens on my desk trying to fix this that I have no idea which ones I actually used- and it’s not like you’d want to recreate it anyway, so I won’t waste time trying to remember!!lol)
• Sentiment from Aspects of Design’s Japanese Plum Blossom stamp sheet, stamped in Memento and Colour Box Pink Pastel chalk ink
• White paper coloured with Muted Pink FlexMarker for mat layer
• Pink Tulip Seam Binding
• Sakura Clear Stardust pen
• Stickles in Crystal
• Pink 2mm gem from a wheel by Anita’s
• Pale Purple Flat-backed Pearls

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes :) ; My Mum's Craft Shop - All Creatures Great and Small :) ; Dream Valley - Monochrome :)

Thanks for stopping by today!! :) I’ll hopefully be back before too long as still have plenty of cards waiting to be shared- in the meantime, please pop over to the Forever Friends blog to see the fab cards by the rest of the DT and hopefully be tempted to join in with us- remember, you don’t have to use an FF bear on your creation (although we’d love it if you did as we all adore them, obviously!!), any animal is fine!! :) Hope you’re all having a lovely week and looking forward to the weekend!! :)

Simply Stylish :)

Hey everyone!! :)

I’m still trying to play catch up with the cards I made but didn’t manage to get posted while I was either not well or too frazzled with ‘real life’ stuff over the summer so thought I’d make a quick post to share this little card I made for my beautiful and clever little sister to celebrate her GCSE results at the end of August- she did so well and I’m sooo proud of her!! :)

Anyways, she told me a while ago that she has a poster of Audrey Hepburn on her bedroom wall (I’ve never seen her room as I’ve not been well enough to visit them in their new house) which she told me was mainly black, white and pink and then I found a font online with head shots of loads of movie stars including the ever glamorous Audrey, so I’ve wanted to do something like this for her ever since :) 

I kept it pretty simple, partly from a style choice perspective as the bold, graphic look to the image needed a simple but bold layout around it, but also as I didn’t have much time or energy and it was the first time I’d managed to get to my desk or do anything crafty in weeks so was feeling a bit rusty!! :) I just matted and layered on some hot pink glittery paper and added some pearls and gems- the only thing I really went to town on was the ribbon!! :) I didn't worry about a greeting as I thought it would be better on my sis' wall (where I suspected she'd put it and sure enough, I was right!!lol) if it didn't have one on it :)

The font is called Famous Folks and I got it free here - I just printed it out nice and big then added the pearls in place of her earrings :)

I made a lovely big ‘flat’ bow with some gorgeous black satin striped ribbon- this shape of bow is so useful when you want to stick with clean lines or don’t have space for ribbon ends to be sticking out over the rest of the design- and I love the way it looks!! :) So, I took a couple more pics...!!lol

The list:

• 6” Sq. White card blank
• Image printed from PC
• Hot Pink pearlescent, glittery paper (came in an unlabelled package from C&C but looks just like the Paper Cellar stuff to me- just gorgeous!! :) )
• White paper coloured with Black PM for matting
• Hot Pink Pearls and gems
• Black ribbon

And that’s it- nice and simple!! :)

My hands are hurting from typing for some reason so I’m not going to worry about challenges for now- if they feel better later then I might add it to some then :)

Right, off to give my hands a break then- but before I go I just have to add my ‘Can you believe this weather?!’ cry to the national chorus!!lol It’s sooo hot here right now- maybe even as hot as the heat wave we had in April!!lol So nice to have the sun shining, though, and I’m making the most ‘cos I don’t think it’s gonna last and I keep hearing rumours of a bad winter to come... not thinking about that right now, though- thinking about Chocolate Brownie Ben & Jerry’s instead!! Mmmm!! :D Hope you’re all able to enjoy it over the weekend, anyway!! :)