Washi Flower Card & Loveliness!

It’s a magnificent Monday. Well I’m trying to be enthusiastic at least. After a busy weekend and a busy day I’m here waiting for a friend for a coffee except I should be meeting her tomorrow.
Blonde moment indeed.
It does however give me a chance to update the blog- so all isn’t lost. This card was one I was demoing for DoCrafts at Sycamore Park at the weekend. Its Simple, bright and an easy way of using craft tape. There is a tendency to get stuck to it but as it comes away easily, pleating the tape onto a scrap card stock circle is pretty easy.
I’ve loads of cards to upload- here’s another

Another easy one; just cut out an aperture, stamp on the cut out, stick inside the card. Colour, trim out grass & then add some bunting ( to hide the mistakes from where you weren’t cutting out exactly neatly!!!).

At the demo, the very lovely Sharon turned up with a box of chocs and a beautiful card which was very kind as I’d not really done anything much for her- but I’m not going to refuse chocolate! Some of the afternoon customers also enjoyed sharing them so thankyou Sharon!!

Will is getting into learning. He is sifting quite carefully the things that his friends say. One told him that there was a number that is the end. There weren’t any more numbers after that. I think the magic final number was about 100. I started trying to explain infinity ( as if!) and then realised I was talking to a 5 yr old. Your friend’s not quite right I explained – numbers go on forever.
He is also trying to work out ages. He doesn’t believe I’m quite that old. Bless.
Not sure how old he thinks I am but I don’t think his brain can quite cope beyond the concept of someone being much older than his eldest sister.
Brains are funny.
One of mine had a dream last night that she bit off her sisters toe. She said she could feel the toe in her mouth in the dream. I decided against prying into why she’d have a dream like that.
Some things are better left unsaid.

Will go now.
Even with an unexpected hour extra- it’s gone too quick.
School run awaits!

See you once I’ve discovered how to click my fingers like Mary Poppins and all my kids will magically appear at hone without me having to go to 2 schools to collect them all x

Casadia!

Hey, at last! It’s Friday! And I’m linking up to Wida Miller’s blog (Beachorada). She had an inspired idea to do a series called CASADIA- which is a card chain where you Case someone else’s card -or idea hence Case-idea–Casadia. You can read and see the card chain right here They are amazing- it’s so inspiring.

Now do you want to see the card I got to case?

This is designed by Tamara King & she blogs at Pickled Papercrafts. Now in case my logic isn’t obvious- these are the elements I’ve cased. I love the long tall shape & the stripe of white against the kraft. I’ve not kept the colour scheme but have used that design element. The other thing that inspired me was the twine flower- it reminded me of this set from Unity which I got from Make The Day Special. Although you can’t tell, the corrugated card is actually bright pink (Amy Tan) and behind the cut out swirl flowers is some more of the card at a different angle

 

I have to say a massive sorry to Wida for my tardiness. She said don’t hurry- which is a fatal comment for me. It went on the list but got quite far down so it got left a bit (ermm.quite a bit). Sorry about being the weakest link!

There’s usually family stories- but I’ll side with the sentiment on the card-and try and become quieter! (fat chance!).

See you when I’ve recovered from the silence! xx

 

 

Get Stamping 2 & The Little Things

Look out for the next Get Stamping! It looks like this

I’ve got a few projects in there- all about paper piecing. Love this months stamps set that comes with the mag- it’s quite a large set- oh and wait until you see next issue’s. The team have surpassed themselves! What I was amazed to find out is that the sets are actually designed in-house- the team including their designers came up with them. I just assumed it was one of the larger stamp manufacturers. I think that’s why it needs celebrating even more!

I’ve received a lovely parcel yesterday containing a pretty great new product from Stampin’Up! Now you won’t find me posting about them very often but my lovely friend Zoe Tant has asked me to make up a project and hopefully you might love it too. It’s a journal type of scrapbook. You’ve heard of Smash? Well this is ‘This’n'That’.
I can say this- but it’s pretty competitively priced. £29.24 just for May (it’s got 25% off). When you consider it’s a wire wrapped hardcovered patterned papered journal plus 12×12 papers, stickers, 3 washi tapes plus an AMAZING changeable stamp with dates and phrases on- it does add up to great value- and I never thought I’d be promoting SU! again in a hurry. Pop over to Zoe’s. and tell her I sent you. I’ll be posting what I created with it shortly.

Family wise- we’re celebrating the little things. Little successes, small achievements that are actually massive to the kids.
Will was drawing last night. Quite a new thing as he shies away from arty stuff. He sidled up to me and thrust a picture in my hand.
“Look” he whispered importantly
“I’ve just drawn a dress. I’ve never managed to draw a dress before”.
It was a picture of me in a lovely triangular dress.
He beamed. I wanted to laugh at the deliciousness of his pride in such a simple thing.
“It’s wonderful” I praised him.
“I’m sorry that you’re bigger than Daddy”.
True enough, I was. Giant in fact. A tonic to my usual small person complex.
“I don’t mind”.
What we did mind was another member of the families’ artistic tendencies.
I overhead the following conversation.
Please don’t read this if your squeamish or having lunch.
“What is this?” Asked my husband to a nameless ( for their safety!) child.
Silence.
“What is this on the wall?”
Still silence.
“It’s dirt and snot isn’t it?”
A sheepish “yes” could be heard faintly,
“Did you think the wall was the place to rub your dirty feet”?
More silence.( I was grinning from the next room)
“Have you put snot on the wall so that when people come and look around our house to buy it, you can show them- oh look this is my snot art?”.
At this point I couldn’t stop lagging out loud. My hubby is very funny.
The child started laughing although he was quickly told it wasn’t funny.
Well it wasn’t.
Except it so was.
I have now to help said child scrub the ‘art’ off the wall. We can’t let them do it by themselves or we know the wallpaper will get rubbed off too.
Looking forward to that one.
Little things.
Celebrate the little things.
Some are worth celebrating more than others!

See you when I’ve found the cleaning implements! ( see.. I actually have to look for them xx

Big Thanks & Make The Day Special !

Happy Tuesday. I’m so desperate to make reference to the weather; such a Brit thing to do, but instead I’ll make reference to the fact that this is something a little different. You’ll be seeing quite a few new stamps and from some new stamp companies that you might not have heard of particularly if you’re from this side of the ‘pond’ (& I don’t mean by ‘pond’, the River Mersey’!!).

I’ve recently been invited by the lovely Lou to join the team over at Make the Day Special.

Now- if you’re not up on who they are, they are a UK company who have a growing collection of paper, dies & particularly stamps from some of the harder to find US companies. Now,  my soft spot for all things Stateside is well documented on this blog & I couldn’t believe how great their collection was when I stumbled over them just recently. You need any of these?

Some companies have larger stocks than others-the Unity pages are HUGE!

If you want some general inspiration the Design Blog is here & I’m loving being part of it already. Today is my day over at the blog- but it’s the same project so you might just want to peek at the shop instead!

The flower on the card is made simply by cutting out small squares of Lawn Fawn paper, cutting a rough square-ish petal shape & rolling up to give shape. You start in the middle with a tightly rolled piece and simply glue the petals gradually around the centre piece. It’s exactly the same process as you make sugar paste icing flowers. It’s a tiny bit time consuming but worth a little time investment. The stamps are from Cas-ual Fridays and you can find them here

On the family front we’ve been losing hair.

Not from me pulling my own out (which could be quite likely) but simply losing it due to a haircut.

Correction.

Scalping.

I did have to bite my lip & stifle a sob.

Hubby was trimming/clipping the boys hair. He does a pretty good job. I no longer do it since I’ve been banned. (long story- not all my fault. Honest).

Someone moved. The clipper didn’t quite do what the clipper operator intended. The short cut became somewhat uneven.

My little son stood in the doorway. My face was unable to hide my feelings.

‘Mum, please don’t look at me like that’.

I couldn’t help it. I was looking at a miniature replica of a thug.

‘I’m just a bit shocked’ I spluttered.

Oh dear. Dearie dearie dear.

He’s blonde. Someone unhelpfully suggested he looked like boy in the striped pyjamas which made me doubly sad as that film is tragic. I can’t watch it without crying.

It had a marked effect on my boy.

As my teenagers would describe it. The boy suddenly got ‘swag’.

He grew several inches taller in his own estimation & is quite enjoying the notoriety.

His friends haven’t all recognised him. He’s loved that part. One of his mates actually screamed through shock (or at least, that was his version).

Less pleasing was the sudden compulsion of everyone to run their fingers through his hair. Me too. It’s warm and furry & feels nice.

Apparently one little guy in the school told him that it felt like a ‘toothbrush’.

So toothbrush head may need his locks (or lack of them) washing more quickly. The grease of 30 hands rubbing through blonde tufts may need eradicating.

I comfort myself with the fact that it will grow.

Less comforting is the realisation that he’s not so little. That part will not ‘grow back’. Ever.

I talked to my husband after it all.

‘You know how you banned me from the clippers? Well now I’m banning you”.

The problem is, who will now operate the hair trimmers?!

See you when I’ve hidden the offending articles! xx

Waltzingmouse Stamps & Sweetening the Deal!

Good morning (shivers!!). Shame the sun has disappeared. But there’s still plenty to smile about!
This is from a set called ‘My Kind of Guy’ by Waltzingmouse Stamps. They are absolutely top quality & stamp brilliantly. As they’re clear stamps it makes lining up a breeze and so easy to repeat stamp. I rarely do one layer cards (ok the brads make it two layered but very nearly!). I’m going to try it with some pastel and girly colours and make something more feminine.

We’re busy having indoors ‘sleep outs’. The campervan tent or ‘caravan’ as they keep calling it is the new bed of choice for the boys. They’re taking it in turns to sleep in there each night. The odd thing is, they last maybe one or two hours and end up back in their beds. Last night we found Will half in and half out of his bed. How he got to sleep in that position I’ll never know.
They’re utterly different but united in the love of Lego. That tends to mean don’t walk around our house barefoot or you’ll regret it fairly quickly.
Pain from Lego is in a class all of its own.
Not too far from labour pain.
Don’t know how it doesn’t leave bruises but there we are.
Need to dash.
Have some cake to make.
It’s my first two workshops at Crab Apple Crafts tomorrow. There might be a space or two if you hurry ( or check with them on FB or email.
The thing is- the cake is a sweetener.
Literally.
Hoping the calories send them into a sweetened stupor that smooths any faux pas’ on my part and helps them to sweetly overlook any issues

See you when I’ve unchained myself from the kitchen! xx

Ribbon Flower Tutorial

Hi! I’ve been trying to do different things with ribbon. This is simple- creating a circle of holes & threading ribbon back on itself & sealing down after each ‘petal’. Haven’t a clue whether it’s a recognised stitch as I made it up- but I doubt it’s truly original.
Here’s the idea-
Take a circle or square of cardstock & punch a circle of holes

Then with the end of the ribbon cut into a point bring it from the back towards the front

Now you’re going to push the ribbon carefully back down the hole you’ve just brought it through

making sure you leave a ‘tab’ or petal of ribbon

now turn over so you’re looking at the back and secure that ‘stitch’ with tape. I’ve used a dark piece of washi so you can see

it but I normally use see-through tape so it can’t possibly be visible from the front.

Continue bringing the ribbon to the front through the next hole

and then repeat the process until you have a full flower

The stamps are from Hero Arts with some Studio Calico Mister Huey spray. A really simple card that focuses on the beautiful ribbon.

I won’t give any stories as the tutorial has made the post quite long enough. Instead I shall dream of sleep. Could really do with some more. In fact a week’s uninterrupted wouldn’t go amiss. Happy Bank Holiday to you all- hope you enjoy the glimpse of sunshine!
See you when I’ve woken up! xx

Keys, Keys & The Key!

Good morning! Today’s project is one I’m doing for the workshops at Crab Apple Crafts. This is for the ‘Retro Stamping’ one. The stamp is from Kaisercraft and is so lovely. I’ve used it so many different ways- more of those another time. Blue and green go together so beautifully and despite Never really wearing them- I seem drawn to them when crafting. They’re coloured in with dry water colouring pencils which have a lovely look when coloured over black cardstock.

Speaking of keys- I’ve been discovering lots of keys this week. Well there are the literal ones that keep popping up all over the place as I’m tidying up. Those keys that you wonder what on earth or more precisely where they’re for and your mind wanders over to undiscovered cupboards locked and containing exciting unknowns – ( or is that just my mind )!

I’ve also discovered the key to certain things.
The key to a relaxing evening is definitely not painting a wall in the morning which leads to a big tidy up which in turn morphs into a complete rearranging of furniture & results in you painting over old canvasses in preparation for doing something ‘artistic’ ( of which I have no clue) and ultimately ends up in a very late night! Here’s one of them getting overpainted.

The key to not getting stressed out by your car is simply to ignore it when it makes loud beeping noises- flashes a sign that you have a puncture and a big red light comes on demanding that you STOP! It did freak me out a little- my first thought was ‘not again’ and my second was ‘how do I interpret that car sign’. One of the wheels on the car was flashing on a display but due to the symmetrical nature of the diagram it was impossible to work out whether it was showing the car facing up or down. Due to my confusion, I ended up stopping the car in a slight panic and looking quizzically at all tyres to work out where the puncture actually was. Upon closer inspection I couldn’t work it out. I went around each tyre kicking it (well that’s what you do isn’t it?!!) & they all appeared to be the same.
I concluded (& my hub came to same conclusion) that a tyre pressure sensor was malfunctioning.
Malfunctioning it is.
So far this week I have had 52 punctures. Not bad huh?! It still unnerves me but as the car has cried wolf too many times now I doubt I’ll entirely believe it if its true! It still shocks me a little each time but I’m learning not to panic!

And lastly I’m learning that some things are simply not worth getting into a stew about. You have no idea how many times I’ve counted to 10 this week. External influences such as GCSE’s & other such things have a particular unpleasant effect on all concerned. I suspect the sudden desire to clean my house may be linked. At this rate my house will be gleaming!!

See you when I’ve thought of how to decorate 2 large white canvasses- any ideas?! xx

Garden Birds & Wedding Stationery Workshop!

Here’s another new set of stamps I’m showcasing. I’d never normally go for these kind of images but have enjoyed pushing myself.
The stamp is only 7.5cm square but as its acrylic its very easy to repeat. You could go to town colouring them correctly as the stamp tells you which bird is which. I’ve gone for a vague representation- ie blue and yellow for the blue tit! It’s more classic than I’d usually do- feels a bit ‘grown up’!

Today I’m busy prepping some more cards for a demonstration on Saturday and starting to plan a day workshop with Abakhan on Creating Your Own Wedding Stationery on 3rd June. I think the summer sun makes everyone think about weddings!

It’s only a short post- I’ll be back shortly with a longer one!

See you when I’ve fed the hungry hoardes! x

Ahoy Card & Tesco Bun Fight!

Good morning- or should I say ‘Ahoy There’! With the weather improving here’s a little project that makes me think ‘summer’. Whilst it may already have come and gone – it would be lovely to imagine balmy beaches & some quiet downtime.
Anyway- away from the dreaming – here’s some brand new product available from May from DoCrafts. Suitably titled ‘Ahoy There’ there’s papers, tags, lovely stamps featuring lighthouses, beach huts, ship steering wheel thingys ( what are those called?!!), knots, waves etc. this card is mostly stamped onto patterned paper with some paper piecing. Fun.

It never ceases to amaze me what I end up witnessing. I recently read a quote that a good author can see 5-6 ideas a day for a story simply from watching around them. Well I’m not planning on writing a story anytime soon- but here’s an amusing story that I hope not to be a part of in a hurry.

So- I’m out. I’ve been to pick up No.4 from a friends. We got chatting. It got quite late. Now I’m quite a stickler for bedtimes ordinarily but ‘nice mummy’ combined with ‘chilled mummy’ came out of the cupboard & I decide to get diesel for Steve’s car ( yes, I was driving it- I didn’t fill up gas containers!!). I then threw caution to the wind and popped into the shop as I was running low on basics.

Son no.4 thought this was great and as we wandered around Tesco, I noticed an animated gathering of people. Not wanting to miss out on excitement due to my often humdrum existence we sidled closer for an inspection.
Well, it was in fact a guy reducing down food. I’ve never really seen a mini crowd in Tesco and they were so close they were practically hugging him.
My interest piqued, I nudged forward.
I like to watch.
I scoped out the competition.
There was a girl a similar age to me: her trolley containing lots of reduced veg. She had a pleasant smile & seemed chilled.
I turned my attention to a couple who had a determined stance. They were poised & both had baskets. Aha- a tag team I realised. They were joking but had those scary type of eyes that say ‘don’t mess with what we’re doing’. Another pair were obviously a mother and daughter and looked like they did this regularly.
The last woman was, for want of a better word scary. You’ll see why shortly.
As the poor Tesco bloke slapped reduction stickers on the food, he lashed them into large green baskets next to him. What happened next was quite surprising.
It was akin to what happens when you put food in a tank full of piranhas. The fish look chilled until the food hits the surface and they all go a little rabid.
Umm.
Rabid was a frenzied understatement.
The customers were plunging, ducking and diving.
Then -silence whilst they waited for the next instalment.
I had to watch from the back. I couldn’t bring myself to dive in. After all, son no4 was with me. Not sure what he’d have made of his mother joining a food scrum. I did however edge a little closer.
Then the duck breasts came out.

The smiley girl went to take them. Scary lady also went down. Smiley was first but Scary snatched it. The picture of a bird of prey swooping down on its kill was a perfect comparison.But, the fiercest Peregrine Falcon had nothing on this woman.
Smiley looked up and caught my eye. She was as incredulous as I was. She graciously shrugged & let the Bird of Prey female take the spoil.
I could not believe it. Even the member of staff looked disapprovingly and remarked “stop fighting please”.
Another member of staff walked outside from the staff quarters and muttered something unprintable under his breath.
At this point there was a sense of camaraderie between us both. I was still not wading in. Smiley lady had a renewed sense of justice, ploughed through, grabbed a load of stuff and started offering them around. I had managed to pick up some eggs by this point and Smiley passed me a crazily cheap pack of beef burgers.
Still feeling shocked by it- I decided to plough on. As we returned that way- the crowd were still there. Stuff was now being reduced further. The eggs had gone from £1.19 to 20 pence (& they were originally £2.00).
I swopped my eggs and couldn’t believe the amount in Scary’s trolley. Lots of people could have benefitted from the bargains- she had a TON. The other experienced couple were so keen to jump forward that they had actually just broken a part of the fish frozen section!
Those were some ruthless reduction hunters.
Drama at Tesco; who’d have thought it? Grown up women having a bun fight!
They need to issue tickets next time !!

Better go, have some reduced mince to make a meal with

Tea Bag Flowers & New Tent!

Sorry I’ve not been around much recently. The whole busy excuse is getting a little lame so instead I’ll say that I’ve been flexing my creative muscles in a way that demands my attention away from the Internet. This picture is the latest edition from Paper Crafts and my card is the top one. The challenge was to use items found in a kitchen and create projects with them. The flowers are actually made from emptied tea bags- a little more finicky than average paper roses because the tea paper is so delicate- but gives a really pretty look. Give them a go- just remember to get rid of the tea first! ( oh -and new tea bags unless you’re going for a vintage look!)

Today I’m keeping an eye on HSN- DoCrafts are showing products for the first time on the American channel. Hope it goes well for them. I had to prepare samples for them- so it will fun to see what they look like!

Family stuff continues to give me lots to smile about ( & plenty to test my patience too!). We were fortunate enough to win a Camper Van kids pop up tent from Monster Toys that my boys ( & certain girls) were looking forward to getting. It’s gorgeous- a blue camper van & I’ve heard lots a muffled laughter since. There’s room for at least 3- although I was ordered to squeeze in and trust me- its not for adults. The kids helpfully commented that I was in fact quite possibly too large for it.
Thanks.
They want to sleep in there & were late for school this morning partly due to the lure of playing in said tent. It’s a welcome relief from the constant cry of ‘please can I play on the DS’.
I’m still waiting for them to come home and clamour to ask ‘please can I do the dishwasher’
Or ‘Mum, please will you let me do the ironing”.
Am I asking too much

We found a prom dress. Amazingly.
It’s not quite right. I’m supposed to be inserting a lace back into it.
A case of she thinks my skills are superior to what they actually are. At least there’s some vague confidence in me!

Ah well. Better dash. See you when I’ve redirected my mail- so much is either going missing or I’m receiving other people’s post. Would be quicker to hand deliver everything I fear!
xx