Valentine Card and Colours that make me happy!

This started out as a clashing card- I just couldn’t get past the red and pink thing. I remember going to visit a school mate when I was 15  wearing  a red and pink combo outfit. I recall him opening the door, staring and saying ‘whoa, that’s a bright outfit’! I suspect that the subtitles would have read ‘what on earth possessed you to team those clothes together!’ I guess I’ve been a little awkward around  these colours since. I threw off my colour inhibitions and dived into two challenges- first the  Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World- the photo to  trigger the challenge is gorgeous and is entitled ‘Sweets for the Sweet’- go see. The second is from City Crafters Challenge Blog on the theme of ‘Sew Fun’. The sewing is taken care of  using back stitch and french knots! (I love doing french knots- there’s something incredibly satisfying about doing them- or is that just me?!!). I’ve created the rose accent using a cheap hairslide and adding ribbon, linen thread, a designer button and some embroidery thread. I’ve also got a dimensional heart there you can’t tell any of the hearts are raised but I’ll show you them on another pic. I do like valentines cards and this one has the gift attached- I think it might be winging its way to one of my daughters!  You can probably make out the chunky hearts on this photo- its just a small heart punch, and 8 cardstock hearts stacked on top of one another. I love the dimension with the big flower. It’s reminiscent of one of my favourite jewellery designers- ‘Lola Rose’. I’ve also gone for an unusual sized card- wish me luck trying to find an envelope to envelop its dimensions!

I’m enjoying a relaxing weekend and wearing one of my all-time favourite colours ; red! I suspect the ‘Colour Me Beautiful’ women may have something to say about my colour choices, but red makes me happy and I’d wear it top to toe if I didn’t look ridiculous. My other favourites are Duck egg Blue, a Mossy green and a warm chocolatey Brown. I should really apologise to my Dad here, my brother & I used to tease him mercilessly for wearing brown. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to wear such an obviously disgusting outdated colour! I have done a complete U-turn and seen sense since then. There are still yukky browns around  but maybe I’ve grown up a little. At least I’m not in my black phase which has come and gone several times!!

I’m off to vegetate tonight- a night watching a film with the hubster!

Card project. Cardstock- Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Poppy Parade. Ink- Melon Mambo and Craft White Ink. Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon.  Stamps- Bella Toile & Dot,Dot,Dot.

Other supplies- Hairslide from Tesco, cream and red embroidery thread.

Get Well Soon Card & Challenges

After all the recent hospital trekking, I thought a get well card was appropriate- and one suitable for a bloke to boot. The men are a little challenging (in so many ways!) to create cards for, so thought a funky pared back design would suit. The letters are stamped with white craft ink onto black cardstock which gives it a gray colour. As gray is supposedly the new black, maybe its on- trend too?!! (oh, and you could have this stamp set completely free in you order our fab value Starter Kit before the end of Feb- email me for more details).  The coloured stripe down the side of the card is made just using thin strips of different coloured card adhered to white cardstock. The blue patterned card is just a flower stamped with white craft ink but with such a small portion that you can’t really tell it’s a flower. If it’s bold and not too girly, I reckon you can get away with it !

I’ve been really chuffed this week to get a mention on two of the challenges I entered. On City Crafters Challenge Blog I got Spotlight Artist and on Stamping Royalty I was one of their 5 Top Picks. It really cheered up my day I can tell you! I continue to be amazed just how small this world really is- joining in with some super amazing crafters from all around the world. I’m busy creating a couple more projects for challenges as it was lots of fun.

When I was in hospital with Jamie we had a LOT of time to fill and it was a real challenge trying to keep him amused. Amazingly, one of his friends from church happened to be admitted at the same time and we did all have a laugh amidst the madness of it all. Steve had bought Jamie a set of Top Trumps ‘Moshi Monsters’. You may be wondering what ‘Moshi Monsters’ are? Kinda like Club Penguins…are you any the wiser? No? I wouldn’t have been either! Think- kids online game plus collectible cards for all the characters that you swap with all your friends. No, I haven’t been swapping them with my friends!- but in my house you’ll find little piles of them just waiting to trip you over as you approach them. Anyway, Top Trumps have bought out a set. The first 10 rounds were bearable; I was doing it to amuse Jamie. The next few were a personal challenge for me to lose as quickly as possible. The problem with that was that my son then wanted me to win (aaahh). No matter how hard I tried he kept sabotaging the game in my favour. Those were very long rounds! The subsequent rounds involved me imagining  that I’d be playing Top Trumps forever! It was lovely to spend real chunks of time with him, even though he wasn’t that well. Highlights of the hospital stay included the staff (who were all incredibly lovely), a game of ‘hunt the vegetable’ in the kids food. No,- potatoes don’t count as veg either! I know not all kids eat much veg and I guess maybe they have wastage, but sick kids do need real nutrition to get better. Us parents supplemented the food instead! Jamie and his two friends (his friends sister was in there too!) both had the non-luxury beds- i.e. the side of the ward without TV’s on every bed! Fortunately they were pretty good about it, although I had to bite my tongue one night as one of the parents chose to watch the telly VERY LOUDLY until 11:30pm. Please people, these kiddos were trying to sleep (not to mention their equally exhausted parents!). It was only when I was looking in the hospital shop the next day, that I realised just why they sold bumper packs of earplugs!!

Well, I’m glad to say that some semblance of normality is resuming in the Baker household (ok, we never quite get to normal, but you know where I’m coming from!!). Looking forward to a calm and restful weekend…who am I trying to kid?!!!!

See you soon (and don’t forget to leave a comment on the previous post if you want to be in with a chance of winning one of my bags!)

xx

Card recipe: Basic Black, Pink, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper white and Bashful Blue cardstock. Brads in Brights colour. white craft ink. Stamp set- ‘Schoolbook Serif’ nad ‘Ornate Flowers’. Old Olive grosgrain ribbon.

 

No crafting and Blog Candy!

Hey! If you’ve arrived as part of the blog hop- please scroll down to the previous post!!
I’m afraid there’s no crafting for a day or two as one of my littlies has ended up in hospital. Not content to visit the Royal hospital last week, I decided to do a hospital crawl!!! Fortunately, he’s responding to treatment but I’ll be in him with at least another day.
Sleep is definately overated- who actually needs it? When you’re being woken up for his 2 hourly meds then you’re not gonna see much shut eye! Ah well, I don’t have to cook tea or do the school so that’s a bonus!!
In light of this non- crafting and coupled with 2 other factors I’m offering some blog candy. Firstly- so many people left me some lovely comments about my Bliss Bag that I’m going to offer it as blog candy and second, I’ve passed the 20,000 hits Mark. Now I know some of you super bloggers probably get that many hits in a week, but I feel pretty chuffed so I want to thank you all for reading it. I’ll ship anywhere so all you need to do is link my blog in yours and leave me a comment! I’ll close it on Friday 5th Feb and then pick a random winner ( this also leaves me time to add a lining as it was so hastily sewn to catch the fading light that it wasn’t lined !!).
Hugs to you all and do some crafting on my behalf – it’s killing me not being able to make something! ( I’ve spied some pipecleaners to fiddle with in case I get desperate!) x
Keep healthy!

Bliss Bag & Sale-a-bration Blog Hop

 Good morning!! Hope you’re not shivering away like me! Isn’t it freeezing?!  Today I’m part of a blog hop organised by Pat with all the ILWS gals. There are 4 separate hops all using the Sale-a-bration sets so as to give you all some inky inspiration with using them. If you click on that ILWS link, it’ll show you the whole list. My round starts with me- but you may have come  from the lovely Hayley, so a big Hi! and welcome if you did.! I haven’t seen her blog post yet but I’m looking forward to peeking later! 

I’ve got 2 very different projects. The first was an idea of mine to use butterflies from ‘Bliss’  instead of a hot air balloon carrying a birthday present. The design needs a bit of reworking but at least it’s nice and bright! I had fun making the ‘strings’. I used the different ink refills to dye some plain embroidery thread. I just put a small amount of water in different plastic cups and added 4 drops of ink from the refills. Add lengths of string, leave for 15 minutes, then remove and let thread dry. To get a truer colour I probably needed a few more drops of colour. Ah well, I had fun playing! I’ve also entered this in Stampin Royalty

 for their challenge ‘Anything with wings’ . I’ve used the Happy Birthday from Punch Bunch and just cut offthe 3 edges of  the scallops. Onto my second project- a very hastily sewn ‘Bliss’ Bag. The light was chronic yesterday- and even messing around on Photoshop didn’t help any! The colour on the bag is as true as I could as I could get it ! The central panel was made from a cotton baby cot sheet I didn’t need any more. I stiffened the thin sheet with some interfacing. The ink stamped really crisp images. I used Pear Pizzazz and Old Olive ink. I added the designer buttons whilst munching my breakfast in a cafe this morning.  As a result of going to a place called the Quarter, I want yoghurt, muesli and fresh fruit for breakfast tomorrow and possibly all next week! The next stage of the hop is heading over to Blue Angel’s . I went for a nose yesterday and she’s got some beautiful cards on there.

On a personal front I was thinking about lots of things that I love whilst I was in town yesterday. My eldest boy has a real nonchalant disregard for his appearance, and I love the way he just doesn’t mind! I had to force myself not to comment as I looked on at this very scruffy but incredibly happy little guy. I also love learning how things are constructed. I was so excited browsing through bag patterns and picked up a few. Wish I’d taken more notice during my Textiles lessons. It’s never too late to learn something new, so you might find a few more bags popping up on here. I also love just looking around. I was like a little kid after popping to town yesterday, with so many inspiring images in my head. Oh to have time to write them down nevermind actually create something.  

Off to tidy up- normal energy levels are returning slowly!

If you want to visit the other blog hops-

Round 1 blog hop- Sarastamper

Round 2 blog hop- my-next-chapter

Round 3 blog hop- here!

Round 4 blog hop- creatinwithkirsteen

Card recipe: Crumb cake and Whisper white cardstock. Inks- all the ‘brights’ colours. Rhinestones. Marina mist satin ribbon. Stamp sets- Punch Bunch & Bliss. Linen thread. White embroidery thread (from my stash)

Bliss Bag- white and patterned cotton. Pear Pizzazz and Old olive ink. Designer buttons. Pear pizzazz ribbon.

Sale-a-bration Butterfly Card & Outlet Shoes

Here’s a little offering with handmade flowers (or maybe ruffles is a better description). I was over at Ros’s blog and she’d made a gorgeous card and it  was part of the design team’s offering for a  challenge. I felt like making a couple myself. I’ve entered here  at City Crafter Challenge blog, Stampin’Royalty  and the Trigger at Moxie Fab  World.  The flowers are so easy- just a straight running stitch along one edge of the ribbon and then gather it. Coil it around into a spiral and tack it together (or stick onto a smaller circle coated in double sided tape). I’m not very good at the romantic style so I wanted to make my flowers a bit more contemporary. I added the small ‘friend’ stamp from the SAB punch bunch set and used the butterfly from the ‘Bliss’ set. These sets are so beautiful, why not get them for free!

In this card I’ve used the Basic pearls (which are anything but basic!) and the three joined strips of pearls you get as part of the set are perfect for winding around. I wanted to give the impression of either winding flower tendrils or the path of the butterfly.

This week has been slow and steady which is a welcome relief from the hectic and scary. As a result of being in the house more, I’ve had the chance to do a little catching up on all of those jobs that I’ve never quite got around to. You know, like sending emails to ask Clarks if they might help me as my shoes had completely split on the soles and were unwearable. As the Clarks shop didn’t want to help me as apparently they were ‘Outlet shoes’. Shocking, I know! Fancy wearing ‘Outlet shoes’? I have to say they are my favourite shoes of all time and I’d had them for less than two weeks. I didn’t really want to fork out for the petrol to visit Cheshire Oaks just to take them to an outlet store. We’ll see what happens. Maybe I’ll get replacement shoes? I won’t mind even if they are from an ‘outlet’!!

I’m going out for a few hours today. I have a mild case of cabin fever. There’s only so much being in that I can stand. As long as there’s a comfy chair, a bit of warmth and a decaff skinny latte, I’ll be quite happy. My kids want me to return to normal energy levels so they can play more crazy hunting games. Speaking of hunting, there were a fair few hunting games played in hospital. I remember watching a litle old lady desperate to find her slippers. Sadly, she was confused but the other patients said she definately had 2 pairs at one point. The nursing staff did a fair bit of hunting for her. The slipper fairy must have taken them. I felt very sorry for her at points although I was amused by a conversation had at about 2am in the morning. Picture the scene. One ladies’ monitor alarm had been going on and off for a couple of hours (I kid you not), there were at least 3 of us awake (apart from the lady whose alarm was actually ringing- typical!). You get to a point where you either go with it, embrace the wide-awakeness and enjoy the dark, or get increasingly frustrated. I opted for the former. The confused lady had had enough of the noise.. ‘Can someone answer the phone please?’. Silence.. ‘Can someone answer the phone please- it might be my son’? More silence… You’re not sure whether to answer, particularly when you don’t know if they’ll be upset. Eventually one of the patients spoke up..’ It’s not the phone, it’s an alarm’. Slight pause..’ Please someone, please answer the phone, my son doesn’t know I’m here’. ‘Love (a little more irritated now), it’s not the phone, it’s an alarm!!!’ This went on for a little while until she gave up. I shouldn’t smile really, that may be me one day.

By the way–I’ve got a FREE Sale-a-bration evening at my house on Friday 4th Feb at 8pm. Get in touch if you fancy coming. All the usual fun, a make-and take using the SAB sets and chance to get hold of them. Oh, and a bit of cake if you can mange to force it down!

Check back on Sunday- I’ll be taking part in a blog hop to show different projects using all the different Sale-a-bration sets. Until then..xx

Card recipe- Cardstock, Whisper white and Crumbcake. Ribbon- Marina mist, white and pretty in pink. Flower brads. Basic Pearls. Melon Mambo and Tempting Turquoise ink. Rubons. Stamp sets, Bliss and Punch Bunch. Linen thread.

Cupcake Earring Card & Overpriced goods!!

I’ve been playing again- this time with polymer clay (you know, the stuff that hardens in the oven). I want to make Millefiori canes and make them into jewellery so I’m starting easy and working up. I need a pasta machine really (for the clay) so I can make ‘Skinner blends’ and such like. I got a book from Amazon called ‘The Polymer Clay cookbook’  and I made some multicolour spiral lollipops too, but they can wait for another post.

I wanted the earrings to be the main focus so left the rest of the card plain- if I’d had my head screwed on when I made it, I’d have used the ‘Crazy for Cupcakes’ stamp set, but nevermind! They’ll need a glaze or varnish. Next on the list is pumpkin pie pieces that smell of spice! I eschewed faux stitching on the card and went for the real McCoy!!

Today I’ve got to rest for real! I’m under docs orders! After enjoying my no-list day so much the other day- I’m contemplating a ‘no-list’ year!   Today I took my Mum and brother out for a while to hunt for something for my brother. Whilst in M&S, we picked up some ridiculously cheap items that were on sale. Once at the till, we were told that we couldn’t have not one, but two of the items as they’d been wrongly priced and were in fact full price. Contrary to what I used to think, businesses are well within their rights to refuse to sell you the item so we left with a disappointing taste in our mouths. Contrast that with Molton Brown who did exactly the same to me the other week. I emailed them and said how disappointing it was that they’d not honoured the price (we’re talking a difference of £11) as many larger firms would. They contacted me speedily and said I could have a refund or a complimentary hand wash. I now have gorgeously smelling hands every time I use the little room! Yay for Molton Brown, boo for M & S (although I do feel another email coming on and headed Marks & Spencer’s way!!). 

I’m off to organise my little boys’ rescheduled Birthday party. Fortunately hubby is running it (first time ever) so I’ve just a little baking to do. See you soon xx

Card recipe: Cardstock- whisper white and Rose Red. Rose Red and brown markers and ink. Choc chip grosgrain ribbon. Stamp set- Oval All. All StampinUp! Pink embroidery thread, Various colours of Fimo, Earring findings all from my stash.

Bliss Bird on a Branch & Retreating

Good morning! Here’s another little card using the Bliss set. This time I’ve used that little bird stamp which is just too cute! I’ve combined it with leaves from the Sale-a-bration Sweet Summer set (that you’ve already seen) and also used the word ‘Bliss’ to create texture on the tree trunk and branches ( there’s a close up of that later). The bird has a layer of Crystal Effects over it and is raised up with dimensionals. I’ve coloured the leaves with a marker. The stitching is done with a marker and then pricked to amek it look like real stitching. The little scallops are just halved circles stamped with the Bliss stamp and pricked. The sentiments are from’ Tiny Tag’ set and ‘Vintage Vogue’.

How are you doing today? I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything so I’m having a ‘no list’ day and retreating. It feels comforting to be esconced within these 4 walls and stay out of the cold wind.I’ve ditched todays’ list and am actually sitting down and watching a film with Will. I’ve managed not to cry at the beginning of Nemo (which we’re watching) and I may actually watch an entire film rather than the piecemeal affair that usually happens. Most films I never have seen the whole way through!!

 It feels good to resist the call of everything. Ok, I confess, I did clean and hoover one room but then I simply can’t relax in a messy room (anyone else like that?!!). I’m debating whether to go the whole hog and have beans on toast for tea. I know what kind of reception I’ll get for that from the kids- but hey, I’m always telling people to be kind to themselves, so maybe I should take a bit of my own medicine!

I’ve still got places left for Friday’s (14th) scrapbook class at my house. We’re doing a 12×12 page, a 3D object and maybe something else!! It’s at 8pm and it’s a good way of having an evening off and relaxing at the same time. Email me if you fancy it.

Take care, and don’t work too hard! xx

Card project; Cardstock- Tempting Turquoise, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Crumbcake. Ink- Early Espresso. Ribbon- pink and Certainly Celery taffeta. Pear Pizzazz marker. Stamp sets’ Bliss and Sweet Summer Sale-a-bration sets. Tiny Tags and Vintage Vogue. Paper Piercer, Designer button, corner rounder and linen thread.

Bliss Sale-a-bration set & How you live

Here’s something a little different from me. I started out stamping with a more ‘artsy’ style. The CAS style has gradually become more ‘me’. I was going to do something bright and funky with this floral stamp (reminds me of a chandelier)but  I thought I’d use the watercolour paper and a spray bottle to disperse the dye ink. I’ve used Early Espresso and Cherry Cobbler. The ink really bleeds beautifully into the watercolour paper- you can see here better- including the top left hand bit that bled too much!!. I mounted the images on dimensionals – but its hard to tell in the photo. The little butterfly is really gorgeous in the set. It’s got interesting script details and looks pretty surrounded by pearls. Hard to believe that it’s free, isn’t it!

Have you noticed how little people actually smile? I felt particularly smiley as I went around the shops this evening. I didn’t actually smile at anyone, but had a smile on my face. People looked at me very strangely! I was smiling remembering as I was crafting last night. I had a radio station on called ‘Last fm’. It’s made up of songs available on a radio channel all over the world. You can put your favourite artist in and it selects other bands and groups that are similar. I’ve found some of my favourite music artists this way. I was listening to a song called ‘How You Live’. Some of the lyrics said… ‘It’s not who you know, or what you did, but the way that you lived’. The song is all about living your life to the full and doing it meaningfully. I loved it and it’s made me think a lot today. I guess that’s about not leaving my ‘Bucket list’ until I’m 60, doing the things I know I should do now and making every day count. A Carpe Diem really. Feeling inspired? I am.

I’m off to do some research about a family holiday with a twist!

Card recipe. Cardstock, Basic Black, Whisper white, Crumb cake. Watercolour paper. Bliss stamp set. Basic Pearls, Ink, Early Espresso and Cherry cobbler.

Simple Sweet Summer & The Royal Wedding

Another simple offering for the Sweet Summer category! To be brutally honest, I didn’t like this set at first (well, we all have our favourites) but it’s really grown on me, and you can see just how versatile this set is. You’ve only got until then end of February and then these FREE sets are gone and you won’t be able to order them. I’ve actually cut out all around the image- each side of the flowery image is connected to the window frame. It does look really pretty left plain, with a backing inside the card, but as it never photographs particularly well, I just adhered everything to the front. Yeah, I know the lighting is bad- it sends the colours way off- please excuse the bad workmanship!!

I’ve been doing lots of shopping- mostly necessary but occasionally fun. I have some money from my Birthday and decided to take the older girls out to spend some of their Christmas vouchers yesterday. It was a good opportunity to be together before they went back to school as the younger ones went the day before. It was a very spur of the moment thing; had I planned it, I would not have chosen to wear my favourite high heeled purple boots to walk around in for 4 and a half hours. By about 3 and a half hours, my feet were starting to complain and after 4 hours, I was starting to complain!! I knew I’d not make the drive back home in the boots, so I dived into a shoe shop- bought a beautiful flat and comfy red pair with some of my Birthday spends and travelled home in wonderful comfort. I have to admit to one of my complexes here- I don’t love being short. At just under 5’4 I am glad of a height boost which is why you’ll see me wearing decent heels most of the time. Even my hubby remarked how small I was the other day. I was standing in the kitchen & he commented that I could barely see over the top of the stove ! (cheek)- so my various stiletto type footwear are to compensate for my ‘small-person’ complex!

I thought I’d tell you a quick story about our families’ discussions about the Royal Wedding. I used to be a die-hard Royalist- (I still need to find someone to offload my collection of Diana books to!) and now I appreciate the Royal Family, but am not so interested. My kids think it’s fantastic that they’re getting an extra day- can you believe they’re actually only in school for 8 days in the whole of April! As the chatter about the wedding continued over tea, Harri asked ‘Who is Prince William marrying?’. Will looked quite amazed and said ‘Wow, Prince me is getting married?!’. We wanted to know exactly who our Will is marrying and he mentioned a little girl. He likes to refer to himself as ‘Prince me’ now. Honestly, he’ll be wearing the wise man crown left from Christmas next!

I’ve put in another close-up of the card. You can see I’ve just simply coloured the leaves in with the Pear Pizzazz marker from our In-Colour Marker set (£11.75), The sentiments is from Tiny Tags which contains 17 small stamps (£21.95), Satin Real Red ribbon(£6.75), Whisper white card (£7.50), Rhinestones (£4.50) and Neutrals Assorted card (crumb cake and basic black card included). If you bought everything to make this card (and you’d have enough left to make loads more), you’d get this stamp set free! Get in touch if you want to place an order- you don’t need to be local, just in the UK.

Take care from ‘prince’ Williams mother!

x

11 Things for 2011 & Scrapbooking Class

 To make a short break from the Sale-a-bration sets, I thought I’d show you a little project. As it’s 2011, I thought I’d compile a list of the things I want to have a go at this year. My word for the year (rather than resolutions) is ‘Grow’. There are many aspects of my life that I want to ‘grow’ . So I’ve created a little folder to house my list of 11 things. I might share them with you another time but one of them on my list is to learn jazz piano. I already play the piano, but would love to learn that skill. It opens with a pocket inside to house my collection of want-t0-do’s. I’ve used window sheets and the ‘Dotted lines’ wheel.

I’ve got a ‘Scrapbooking for the scared’ class Friday January 14th at 8pm. It costs £13 and we’ll be doing an ordinary scrapbook page using the Party This Way set. We’re also doing something really different using this mystery object . It’s not a really basic class but it is completely suitable for beginners and those who’ve scrapbooked before will enjoy it. The mystery object is to show you a different and easy way of scrapping. You need to bring some photo’s with you that you don’t mind cropping (trimming)- if they’re really precious photo’s- bring a copy and then you can plan the page and put the photo on at home! I’m doing a special offer for the course. You can purchase the clear stamp set and the class for only £19.95 (a saving of £6.05). If you want this, you’d need to order by the 6th January.

I’m signing off now as it’s my Birthday and I have some of my family over. I’ve already had an amazing quadruple cake and hubby is taking me out for a meal this evening.  See you soon xx

Project recipe; Pacific point, real red, bashful blue, certainly celery and whisper white  cardstock, Celebrations designer paper, window sheets (acetate) , certainly celery taffeta ribbon, linen thread. Dotted lines wheel stamp. Adhesive pearls. Tag punch and tiny circle punch. Bakers twine (from the internet).