Trying something new...

Hi everyone, guess who was allowed out early from Jury Service today?

I wasn't sure whether to share this tag that I made about a week ago. It's the first piece of this sort that I have ever made... so please be gentle with me!

As always I have learnt plenty along the way so if I try anything like this again hopefully it can only look better!

The image is from a fabulous set of unmounted stamps by The Doodle Factory called Grace Girls. I coloured the image when I came home from day one of Jury Service and the phrase 'like a fish out of water' seemed to sum up how I was feeling. If you've ever done Jury Service perhaps you'll know what I mean!

I used layers of torn white tissue and watered down PVA glue to get the effect of the water and sky (lovely and messy) and then coloured with Distress Inks. I tucked the little fish into the tissue before it dried.

There's plenty of Glossy Accents and Stickles and a mix of lovely blue wool as a finishing touch.

Thanks for taking a look, and happy crafting everyone!

Birthday girl!

I can't stop paper piecing this cute little girl from PI!

Here she is modelling Kaisercraft pattern paper. I made her trousers/pants from one of the die cuts included in the paper pad and added some stitching. Sweeeeeeeeeeet!

Happy crafting everyone!

You make me smile!

Hello again everyone, here I am dropping by to share a CAS card that I made today using Kelly's gorgeous colour combo from Inspiration Friday over at Hero Arts.The butterfly was stamped in brown Memento ink, coloured with Promarkers and then literally smothered in Glossy Accents. I scored the wings before adding the Glossy Accents so they'd lift up very slightly when dry. The stamp is from a Christmas present of the lovely Polyclear Antique Engravings set. Not my usual style but I'm just loving the stunning images.BTW, I'm on the look out for a good white embossing power. The last two that I bought have proved to be very disappointing so I'd welcome some recommendations.

I start Jury Service tomorrow. I've borrowed a whole load of books from the library as I have been warned that there is plenty of time just spent waiting around.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

A quick thank you card.

Hello everyone, yes it's me again! I'm finding going 'cold turkey' from blogging rather hard to do.

I can't promise regular posts but will try and join in the fun whenever I can!

I needed a few 'thank you' cards. What a great excuse to ink up my latest Pure innocence stamp called 'Being cute is what I do'. I think she may just be my favourite PI girl so far. I paper pieced her dress and coloured her with Promarkers. The papers are both scraps from Basic Grey and look lovely with that turquoise card from Stampin' Up!

Using my newly serviced and repaired sewing machine I was able to stitch around the centre panel of the card. Stitching on cards may just become my new obsession!

Anyhooo, enjoy the rest of your weekend. I have a card to finish (hurrah) and then the ironing awaits (boo hiss).

Take care everyone and happy crafting!

Happy New Year!

I thought I'd just drop by and wish everyone very Happy New Year! A big thank you to everyone who left a comment on my previous post or who has been in touch by email. Thank you so much for all your kindness and friendship. Just to prove that I've not been leading a totally craft free existence since November I thought I'd share a few views of my untidy desk and one or two of the cards that I've been working on recently. These are my quick make/mass production cards at the assembly stage... A close up after adding oodles of Stickles!

And here's the final Christmas card for 2010.

This golden oldy from the fabulous Emerson Quillan has to be one of my favourite Christmas stamps!

Finally, I couldn't resist making this set for my sweet niece. These little digi's from Heather Ellis look uncannily like her and so were perfect for creating simple single layer 'thank you' cards.

Life remains hectic and is likely to become even more so in the run up to the submission date for my ICS work. In addition I now have the added stress of two weeks of jury service in late January! Seriously, is someone having a joke????

Take care everyone and happy crafting for 2011!

Ta ta for now....

I've been putting off this decision for a few weeks.... but I think the time has come for me to take a little break from blogging. I've noticed that I seem to be dropping Followers and I'm not posting as often as I feel I should. Work is proving very challenging right now, plus I have my ICS qualification to complete by March 1st and there just aren't enough hours in the day!

Before I take my leave I thought I'd share a few projects that I've managed to slot in amongst all the recent craziness.

This first card uses lots of lovely Stampin' Up! goodies and that beautiful Hero Arts background stamp that I bought recently. I don't often show sympathy cards but thought I'd share this one as it showcases stamps from one of the new level one Hostess sets from the current Stampin' Up! catalogue.

The second card that I'm sharing today is one that I made for my best friend's wonderful daughter Hannah. Don't tell her, but along with her ever so slightly crazy Mother, Hannah is one of my favourite people on the planet!

Myself and my friend always say 'if it's going to happen it will happen to Hannah'. Once again she proved this to be true by having her appendix removed and being in a car accident in the two weeks proceeding her 18th birthday last Thursday. Thankfully she is on the road to recovery and still managed to celebrate her birthday in style.

This adorable new Sugar Nellie stamp by Krista Smith seemed perfect for a sleepy 18 year old who can't understand what all the fuss is about! The sentiments and beautiful paper are both from Kaisercraft.

My final project is the reveal of how I altered that cardboard cat food box you've seen loitering on my workdesk for the last couple of posts. Perfect for my overflow of punches!

I love this Gorjuss/Sugar Nellie stamp called Up, up and away, and the highly appropriate sentiment from Hero Arts. I also used the Memory Lane stamp from Crafty Individuals and my new Hero Arts block - totally gorgeous!!! I've never done anything quite like this before and learnt plenty to take forward to any future projects!

So now I'll say au revoir... I'm sure that I'll pop up from time to time as I know I'll find it very hard to stay away from my blogland buddies.

Thanks for dropping by at my blog, thanks for your wonderful friendship and encouragement and thanks for all the amazing inspiration and fun. You are all totally fabulous and much appreciated.

Ta ta for now... and very happy crafting everyone!