Craft Critique

Do you guys follow Craft Critique? I've been a subscriber of them since starting into the bloggy world last year and have enjoyed their fab critiques of crafty products and materials. When I'm unsure about buying a product I usually visit them first.

Well if you have yet to discover the joys of Craft Critique they are doing a HUGE Follower/Subscriber drive with give aways so now is the time to sign-up and see what they are about. They are on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube too.

Has It Turned Cold?

Another card from last year for you today. I haven't blogged it yet but you might have seen it in Papercrafts Essentials if you read the magazine.

The image is a cute Hamish from Sugar Nellie and he has been coloured with Prismacolor pencils then embossed to give that 'just snowing texture' :) I cut the border with a circle template and scissors and stamped the ickle snowflakes in pearlescent ink.

And as luck would have it the SugarBowl has a Christmas theme so I thought I might be a bit cheeky and enter it into the challenge :)


Ever wanted to know about the Cat Herders?
So cute :)

Have a fabulous weekend.

Materials:
Stamp - Sugar Nellie; Pink Cat Studio
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black; Brilliance pearlescent
Colouring - Prismacolor pencils; sansodor
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; Double-sided tape; scissors
Other - ribbon; circle template; cuttlebug and embossing folder

What A Sweet Heart

I think my lovely OH, David, liked his birthday card as he has blogged it.

If you are interested in what I made for him then go spread some bloggy love over at Clandestine Critic where my man critics and reviews all the entertainment bits and bobs he loves. If you like your films, books, TV programs, comic books this is the place to hang-out.

(Ignore any of the soppy stuff in the post as I will go very red - LOL)

More Notebooks

I'm obviously in a notebook frame of mind at the moment so here is another one for you. Inspired by the lovely acetate covered notebook Wendy had on her blog Paper Therapy a few days ago, I thought I would do my own take with some stamping and painting onto acetate.

I also wanted to try out my fabulous new Shimmerz paints so I thought that this would be the perfect project.


Details: So I stamped onto the inside of the acetate cover with white staz-on and then painted over it with some Flashee Fuchsia Blingz Shimmerz paint. The card covers are matted with Basic Grey Euphoria papers and I made the flower and butterflies from the same papers. The flower and butterflies are all painted with Celery Shimmerz and just look at that wonderful sparkle! The button has also been 'blinged' with the Flashee Fuchsia Blingz Shimmerz


Materials:
Colouring - Flashee Fuchsia Blingz; Celery Shimmerz
Stamp - Hero Arts
Ink - Staz-on Cotton White
Papers - Basic Grey Papers
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; Silicon Glue; Scissors; Double-sided tape
Equipment - Bind-It-All; Wires
Other - Acetate; blank pages; Covers; Embroidery thread; Beads; Butterfly Charm; Button

When Inspiration Calls

Something slightly different for you today - a scribble book for when you get that hit of inspiration.

I've painted the covers with acrylic paints and a touch of varnish then decorated the front with Basic Grey papers from the Ambrosia collection, added a fab large felt flower and some distressed circles and a brad. The letters have been 'blinged' with glitter glue and I've added a small matching paper charm on a ribbon.

The book itself was put together using the fab Bind-It-All which I love to bits :)

If you feel inspired, pop over to Sassy Crafts to get what you need.


Talking about notebooks take a look at this yummy notebook from Wendy over at Paper Therapy.

Materials:
Papers - Basic Grey
Inks - Tim Holtz Distress inks
Usual Suspects - Double-sided tape; Paper trimmer
Other - Fun felt venti daisy; Brad; Zutter Bind It All, Wires and covers; Acrylic paints; varnish; Ribbon; Glitter glue; Cuttlebug; QuickKutz Sophisticate Alphabet

Pink, Black and White

Do you fancy a bit of origami? I've made some origami cherry blossoms for this card and used beads for the centres.



Materials:
Stamp - The Greeting Farm Geisha Anya
Colouring - Letraset Promarkers
Papers - Dovecraft
Usual Suspects - paper trimmer; double sided tape; Silicone glue; scissors
Other - beads; computer; printer; embossing powder; heat tool; 3d-glue

Ladies That Tea

It was my OH's birthday this weekend and we did lots of lovely birthday stuff including eating lots of yummy food and visiting places such as doing the BBC tour around Television centre. He took friday afternoon and Monday off of work and it has been a nice extended weekend.

Shock to the system getting back to normal today! Plus I reckon I need to go for a run or something to work all that food off. LOL!

So I haven't really been making a lot over the last few days and to prove it I have a card from last year that I haven't blogged yet. If you get Papercrafts Essentials you will have seen it in the latest issue as they asked me to send some examples of my work for the interview piece. Thank you those who have seen it and have left such lovely comments :)

A paper pieced Elzybells Art Stamps with some fab retro bright papers. I'm busy on a sewing project at the moment. I hope I get some time to do some cards to show you all. If not you might have to make do with a rather novice bit of embroidery :)

Happy Tuesday.




Materials:
Stamp - Elzybells Art Stamps
Ink - Versafine Onyx black
Papers - Rusty pickle (I think)
Usual Suspects - Double sided tape; Paper trimmer
Other - Brads; Lime and brown cardstock

In The Garden

Aren't stamp sets fun? I've used the flowers, bird and sentiment from The Greeting Farm's Anya Pretty Hat stamp set for this card and I love the sweet and simple lines that have come out of this design :)

Coloured the images with watercolour and glitter glue and doodled the flower stems. The matts are made from card coloured with promarkers.


Materials:
Stamps - The Greeting Farm Pretty Hat
Ink - Versafine onyx black
Colouring - watercolour
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; silicon glue
Other - glitter glue; organza ribbon; Letraset Promarker pen; Fine marker pen

Vintage Kaboodle Doodles

Kaboodle Doodles has an interesting challenge for you this fortnight - Vintage. Well, I had to think about this one I can tell you.

I came up with this tag card for my DT piece. It uses the fabulous Kaboodle Doodles Old Kit - which is actually a new kit. I've edged the papers with distress inks and added crackle glue accent to the heart with some lace ribbon to finish it all off.

Enjoy the challenge.


Materials:
Stamp - Royal Langnickel Clear Choice; The Queen's Dresser Drawers
Inks - VersaFine Sepia; Tim Holtz Distress inks
Papers - Kaboodle Doodles Old Kit
Usual Suspects - Double-sided tape; Paper trimmer
Other - Woodware border punch; Lace; Pin; crackle glue; 3d-glue

1920's Anya

Another quick post for you today, with the wonderful Anya Pretty hat set from The Greeting farm. I thought the papers were very 1920's and her lovely hat and outfit just suits that style so well, so here you go.

Thanks for dropping by and I hope to visit you all next week when I have some more time. Have a fab weekend.


Materials:
Stamp - The Greeting Farm
Inks - Versafine onyx black; Distress inks
Colouring - Letraset promarkers
Paper - Hot Off The Press
Usual suspects - Paper trimmer; double-sided tape; silicone glue
Other - ribbon; pearl glue; flowers; brad

Laura Ashley Torn Flower

A quick blog today with a friendship card I made a while ago, last year in fact, but never got around to blogging.

Tearing is such good fun. I've used Laura Ashley papers and stamps with an Anna Griffin sentiment. The velvet button in the centre is from a favourite old coat which I wore until it fell to pieces, LOL.

Have a fab Friday.


Materials:
Stamps - Laura Ashley; Anna Griffin
Inks - VersaFine Onyz Black; VersaColor Bamboo
Papers - Laura Ashley
Usual Suspects - Double-sided tape; Silicon glue; Paper trimmer
Other - Button

Vintage Meets Modern

Spoiler alert for my Mum:
If you are my Mum then look away now :)
(this might be your Mother's day card!)
No peeking!

I've had a vintage look card rattling around in my head for a while now but couldn't seem to bring it into being. But then I saw the guest designer call and the sketch by Katharina over at Whiff Of Joy and this card was born!

Details: A vintage look with a modern twist using acetate. I've stamped onto the acetate with white ink and tamed the white with a little colour from chalk inks. Some resistance stamping with clear embossing and chalk inks in the corners.Then some paper distressing with files.


Some crumpling, inking and ironing for the butterfly.


Made a place to write (and hide any glue) on the inside.


Watercoloured the image using Tim Holtz distress inks and pearlescent inks.


It was great fun making this card :)

Materials:
Stamp - Whiff of Joy; HOTP
Inks - VersaColor Onyx black; Colourbox chalks; StazOn Opaque Cotton White; Brilliance pearlescent Crimson red
Colouring - Tim Holtz Distress inks
Papers - HOTP
Usual Suspects - Silicone glue; Double-sided tape; Paper trimmer; Scissors
Other - Acetate; Iron; Wire; Pearl brads; Pearlescent glue; Lace; Cuttlebug; Nestibilities; Shaped scissors

Colourful Pets

Another ATC for you, I must be going through an ATC phase :) These cuties are from The Greeting Farm Anya Pretty Hats stamp set which I'm just loving at the moment. The background is a Promarker special! ie. I've drawn some lines on a piece of card with my promarkers :)



Materials:
Stamp - The Greeting Farm
Ink - VersaFine onyx black
Colouring - Koh-i-nor Watercolour paints
Paper - Letraset Promarkers on card
Usual suspects - silicone glue
Other - Paper punch; button; ribbon; Pearlescent glue

Cupcake ATC And Some Blog Candy Alerts

How has your weekend been? What crafty stuff have you all been up to? I've made a couple of things but I've also been a bit distracted with Lego Star Wars on the Playstation - Oops! Hence the late post :) I could have just pretended that I was really busy with a project....!

We have some news at Kaboodle Doodles - we have a fab new guest designer Chris from Mudmaven Designs. She has some blog candy up on her blog as well so go take a look. All very exciting :)

As I am on the subject of blog candy Wendy has some at her blog Paper Therapy (great name for a blog!) she is giving away a scor-pal!

And one for the embroiderers Mary has a lovely group of threads to give away on her blog Needle'nThread.


Enjoy the rest of your day.

Materials:
Stamps - Papermania; HOTP
Inks - VersaFine Onyx Black
Colouring - Koh-i-nor Watercolours
Papers - Basic Grey
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; silicone glue
Other - pearlescent glue

Aren't Hats Great?

It is a gloriously sunny day here today and before I go out and get some winter rays here is a paper pieced Anya card with the papers, flowers and leaves from the Kaboodle Doodles new Morris Dance kit. I've added pearlescent glue to her necklace and her face and hair are coloured with prismacolor pencils.

Have a fab Saturday you all.



Materials:
Stamp - The Greeting Farm
Inks - VersaFine Onyx black
Colouring - Prismacolor pencils; sansodor
Paper - Morris Dance Kaboodle Doodles
Usual Suspects - Silicone glue; Paper trimmer; Double-sided tape
Other - Pearlescent glue

High Hopes For a Guest DT Call

Hey-up All, I thought it would be a bit of fun to have a go at the Guest DT call running for High Hopes Rubber Stamps at the moment. You still have time if you are interested in applying as the deadline is the 22nd February.

So do frogs say Ribbit or Gribbit?



Materials:
Stamp - High Hopes Rubber Stamp
Colouring - PrismaColor; Sansodor
Papers - Cosmo Cricket; Basic Grey
Usual Suspects - Paper trimmer; Silicone glue; Double-sided tape
Other - Seam ripper; Button; string; Cuttlebug; QuickKutz Sophisticate Alpha

It Is Hot On The Savanna

These look like happy lions don't you think? They are from Alota Stamps over at Sassy Crafts and it is a birthday card for a friend who likes his safaris. The papers are good old Basic Grey from the Off Beat collection and the buttons are from my favourite Buttons Galore. I don't know what it is with me and buttons at the moment I am just besotted with them :) A bit of distressing and a bit of sewing to finish the look.

I had started this card a couple of weeks ago and then set it to one side to finish later and completely forgot about it! Bless me! I only found it again after a bit of a tidy. I wonder what other projects I have half-finished dotted about the place? Maybe I need to do a big sort out? Mmm?



Materials:
Stamp - Atota Rubber Stamp
Colouring - Prismacolor; Caran D'ache; Sansodor
Papers - BasicGrey OffBeat
Usual suspects - Silicone Glue; Paper trimmer
Other - Buttons; Sewing Machine; Seam ripper

Oh Fabulous Sparkly News

Toot Toot - I'm really, really excited and honoured to have been picked to be on the lovely sparkly, shimmery Shimmerz Paints Design Team :)


You can see the other new DT members over on the Shimmerz Blog. I can't wait to get started, Shimmerz paints are so sparkly and colourful - Wahoo!

A Bit Of Birthday Hardware

Hello Gorgeous Bloggers, how are you all doing today? I've been a bit busy finishing a couple of projects and then this belated birthday card for a birthday tomorrow - Ooops! I wonder if the post office can travel back in time...?

Details - the papers are from Hot Off The Press and are in fact from a paper pack called Floral Backgrounds but I thought they made for a good male card. Ok so there is a touch of pink in there but boys like pink, right? The papers have been roughed up (ok, so I'm trying to be a bit more male here!) with my seam ripper and then inked with some distress inks.

Have a lovely rest of your day folks.


Materials:
Papers - HOTP Floral Backgrounds
Stamps - HOTP
Inks - VersaFine Onyx Black; Distress Ink Soot black
Usual suspects - Scissors; Silicone glue
Other - Kraft Bazzill; Seam ripper

Colours Of The Rainbow

Have you ever dyed threads? I've dyed some clothes in the washing machine before and once dyed a bed sheet for a fancy dress costume where my OH was going to a party in traditional Arabian costume, but never threads for embroidery.

After a delay of a week, due to the snow, we managed to get some dying done in my creative embroidery class and it was such fun! I had a bit of a production line going, as you can see, and managed to dye quite a lot of different threads and some pieces of calico.

Now I need to creatively merge these colourful bits into a project.....MMmmm?