Hanging Happy Birthday! & Demoing.

Good morning & Happy Friday!
Today is the first day without germified kiddos lolloping around the house so I get a quick 5 mins to post my final project in the Lawn Fawn trio. Having said that, my order from Make The Day Special just came in and I have one more idea up my sleeve!
This card was a labour of love I can tell you. It was kinda guitar inspired – the strings?! To get them all lined up was a pain and I’ve still not got them exactly facing dead straight on- but I’m comforting myself with the fact that it’s handmade and not supposed to be perfect 😉 ( keep telling yourself that!) I simply stamped each letter out ( from the Milo’s Alphabet stamp set) sandwiched a piece of embroidery thread between that and another piece of slightly smaller card and began the ‘suspending operation’. I had to add adhesive in three layers to make sure there was enough sticky and spent ages tweaking the strings.
Anyhow- it’s different and as per one of the Lawn Fawn categories – it’s making the alphabet the star. If you want to join in, you’ve got until Monday. It can be an old project – just check out all the details here

Well this weekend I’m demoing in Sycamore Park Garden Centre. They’re lovely there and I’m demoing all sorts from 10-4. Would love you to pop along and sing me a carol or too to keep me going… or not. The choice is yours!!
Well, have copy to write and projects that won’t make themselves.
Thanks for all your comments recently- they really are lovely to read!

See you when I’ve washed 5 lots of uniform! Joy! Xx

Papertrey Blog Hop!

Hey! Doing another first – joining in the Papertrey Blog Hop.
Here’s the colour / sketch challenge – it’s a great sketch but a very hard colour scheme- just not my colours at all- enjoyed the challenge though!

The scallops reminded me of the cups from the Papertrey set ‘Tea for Two Additions’ and I didn’t have the exact colours so used white embossing powder to hide that fact a little 😉

It’s been a busy few days. Last bits and bobs of uniform- GCSE results, more kiddo illness and some crafty commissions. I’m looking forward to a really relaxed week..
( can you hear me laughing hysterically!!)

See you after I’ve finished being chilled! Xx

Button Cards & Closing Down

This fun rainbow card was just using up some of the lovely oversized buttons we’ve got. Just like there is some paper I struggle to cut into because it’s so beautiful (oh dear, I just admitted to being a paper-stroker), I have some supplies that just sit and look at me, daring me to use them and I can’t quite bring myself to put glue on them. Well, I took myself in hand and went a little over the top- I’ve practically used them all! (still a couple of colours left yet). Nothing complicated- would take you all of 10 minutes and my eldest asked if she could have it for a friends Birthday card, which has to mean its vaguely cool!

I have cut out the letters individually- partly because I didn’t want to stamp them and have to measure spaces, but I think t adds a little more texture. It somehow reminds me of icecream (the colours that is!).

I’ve stuck them down using Tombow. Although it was probably not my normal go-to adhesive for large embellishments, it is pretty strong and didn’t show the glue-dot through the large button holes which is what happened on my first attempt.

This week I popped into town and went past Habitat which has now closed (albeit for a few flagship London stores I think). I love their clean and funky designs. I had gone in during the last few days and picked up a small jigsaw- acrylic and tactile and the sort that I wanted to play with too. I guess good design appeals to a broad spectrum of ages (or maybe I’ve still not grown up properly). Shame that another big brand struggles in these uncertain times. Makes me glad that I’m not depending on the economy to be my mainstay. My heart goes out to all those who are really struggling to make ends meet at the moment. Life is tough for a good many people at present. Another reminder to me to be content with what I have and be thankful. 

See you soon! x 

 

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.