Craft Bag

Well who's a lucky boy then, I've just been bought this lovely bag for schlepping all my craft stuff between my home and studio, my old bag consisted of an old plastic shopping bag that had started to fall apart because there was far too much stuff stuffed in it! You know what it's like, crafters are like water, they'll fill every available space they can find!

So, to help me out of my dilema, my beloved has bought this fantastic bag for me! It's supposed to be for the Sizzix Eclips, but it's just the right size to hold all the stash that I might need! Card, pens, scissors, knives, trimmers, dies, inks, stamps, kitchen sink...you get the point!

I just have to contain myself until it arrives!!

Mojo Time

Mojo Monday time again, this time I've taken a departure away from my comfort zone of stamping! The sketch this week made me want to try something different.

So, I've gone for a shaped card with a die cut butterfly, The card shape is a Spellbinder Grand Label with a smaller fancy circle die. The butterfly is a Cheery Lynn "Exotic Die" Lace Flourish Butterfly.

The sentiment was done on my Mac, the self adhesive gems are from my stash. The backing papers are from First Edition's "Bird Song" collection, with a hint of a distress "Tea Dye" ink!

So that's it for me for today, it's bath and bedtime as I've a busy, busy day tomorrow!

Port Sunlight Update

Well Saturday was a blast, I really enjoyed the Happy Stampers show at the Hulme Hall in Port Sunlight, it had such a great atmosphere and was really, REALLY, busy all day!

I spent far too much money (even though I was supposed to be working!) on lots of fantastic things to play with, which I'll share through some creations. The great news apart from that, is that while I was there I was able to speak to one of the organisers of the show and explained to her all about my company, Kraftyhands, and she has agreed to allow us to exhibit at the next show in September! So I'm really very, very happy about that as normally you have to wait to be invited to exhibit!

I just have to finish the designs of our first range of stamps now...Linda are you listening!!!

Anyway, so here's my first sample from the new CD collection called Vintage Motors, this collection isn't due out until July so here's a little sneak peek!

It's is an A5, 3D decoupage card, but you can't really tell as I've taken the photo straight on, I love the scrapbook feel to these kits as it makes the vintage feel to them even stronger.

So to the run down,

Vintage Motors Card Kit No 9, midnight blue pearlescent cardstock for the matts, Black Jack Card Candi from stash, brown 15mm grosgrain ribbon from stash and a little Ranger Glossy Accents on the windscreen, goggles and chromework to the front of the car! Oh and I forgot to say, the brown paper used behind the main car picture is printed on, but looks real!

Port Sunlight

Well, I'm here just outside Liverpool at a place called Port Sunlight, visitors of a certain age will know the name Sunlight Soap which was produced here by The Lever company many moons ago. The village of Port Sunlight was built to accommodate the workers of the soap factory and remains unchanged after many many years and it's like stepping back in time... I half expected to see Ms Marple walking down the street!

I'm here to help my friend Susannah who has a stand at the Happy Stampers NW Festival here in Port Sunlight. It's my first visit and the show doesn't start until 10am tomorrow morning and I've already spent £25!

It's too much like temptation!! Goodness knows how much I'll spend tomorrow when it's officially open!

Perfect Bows

I've had quite a few complimentary comments regarding the ribbon bows that I've added to some of my card creations in the past few months. I'm very grateful to everyone for saying how nice they think my bows are. There really is no big secret to making bows, all you need is a bow maker.

My bow maker is from Joy Crafts (you can buy one here!), but there are many on the market. The bows that I have made have been triple bows, but you can make single, double or triple with my bow maker and they're really quite simple. I've put a quick instructional video on YouTube for you to watch showing how to use the bowmaker.

Jardinerie Leftovers

Using leftovers to create cards is, I believe, a crafty habit to get into, so using the leftovers from yesterday's card I've created a new 6"x6" one tonight with just the addition of a topper from the Kraftyhands Chic Boutique square toppers (buy them here)and a Tim Holtz Ideaology Adage Ticket.

The ribbon and bow were white and I've coloured them with a pastel blue Promarker, the heart lattice border is a Martha Stewart punch, quick and simple to create.

Apologies for the quality of the photo, but it was taken using my iphone, I'll take a better one later when I'm back home. I'm currently at Mother's as she's still quite ill.

Double Trouble

So here's a card that I created tonight. The card was inspired by two blog challenges, the first is inspired by a sketch from the fabulous blog Mojo Monday where they have a library of sketches just waiting to be plundered!

The sketch that inspired this card is the latest No 240, which was uploaded on Monday, see below.

I can safely say, I'll never be stuck or suffer crafters block again! They have a monthly challenge, but just for fun, I don't think you win anything...but it's all just for fun isn't it?

The second inspiration for the card is the blog called CR84FN, the aim of this challenge is to use the suggested colour scheme, see below

I've tried to stick as close to the colours as I can but my stash isn't quite as extensive as some so I've had to use a little creative colour license in the card's creation and the lighting wasn't perfect when I took the photo.

So to the run down, I've used Tim Holtz textured backing papers for the solid matts, A Lili of the Valley stamp (my favourites stamp makers!) coloured with Promarkers. The pink carnations are made from mulberry paper and can be purchsed from Wild Orchid Crafts, the fancy circle is a spellbinder nestability, but can't remember the name (I'm hopeless...it's my age!) the ribbon is a cream satin from my stash as are the coloured pearls. The sentiment is also a LOTV stamp, one of their clear acrylic sentiment stamps. The backing papers I've had for a while and have lost the front sheet, so I can't tell you where these are from, but I can tell you they're really quite pretty!

So, with that all done I'm off to enter the challenges of these two new (to me) blogs! Wish me luck!