Me,Myself & The World

Stampin' up! & a little project i'm working on...

2012-02-25T09:52:00.000-08:00

I know i've not posted for a long while, but with, half term recently and what seems like constant illness within the family i've not had much time!!

It's not all doom and gloom, part of the reason i haven't posted recently is that i've signed up to be a stampin' up demonstrator. so i've been working on a new Stampin' up blog, facebook page, samples and class ideas etc.
I would love it if you would all join me on my new blog here i will be keeping this blog open to share all my non SU craftiness =)

So...on to my new project, and i have to give credit to my lovely hubby for this one. He bought me this ickle mini cabinet from a charity shop...

so this is now my ongoing project and this is what it looks like so far...

I think i might distress the it a bit but after that i'm not sure what i'm going to next! The outside is covered with torn pages from a dictionary and the inside is painted with acrylic paint, and the 'shelves' are boxes made from thick packaging card.
I have a bag full of charms to use in it when its ready (also courtesy of the hubby), to be honest, i just love looking at them, so i guess this project is perfect for me, i get to keep all my fave pretty things!!

This year i will...

2012-01-26T13:36:00.001-08:00

Start preserving my memories. I'm always bleating on about memories this, memories that! so i've made it my mission to do something about it. I've my smash book for those silly sentimental things no one but you cares about, i'm going to an art journaling class at art from the heart to get started journaling my personal thoughts& i've started doing some scrapbook pages that can be shared with everyone and be passed down the family. I've got my lil 6x6 album which had one layout in it to work on & i've actually done a couple of 12x12 layouts.
Before i sign off for now can i ask any of you who scrap, do you stick to the same colour scheme for each album or do you go with your photo(s)?

Journal/notebook cover

2012-01-22T05:53:00.001-08:00

I don't have much to share with you this week as most of the things i'm working on at the moment are gifts so i can't share them until they have been received!
So just a simple offering today. Although this is simple, i am really pleased with this. I love notebooks and journals (& pens but thats another matter!) so i have lots of them. This one in particular was a cheapy from asda. I decided to give it a new lease of life. I painted it with acrylic paint, dried it with a heat gun (i'm impatient) then simply stamped it with the stamps of my choice. Once that was dry i then spritzed with some ink spray.
Hope you like my little offering this week.
Xxx

heart flower tutorial

2012-01-14T07:54:00.000-08:00

A couple of people have asked me how i made my flower from the heart stamp. So I am going to share the process with you =) This is my first tutorial so please be gentle with me, and if you feel you need more detail or pictures, please do just ask.

To start with you need to stamp out your hearts in the ink of your choice, for this tutorial i have used distress ink in seedless preserves from the autumn collection, and for the flower in the previous post i used festive berries, from the winter collection.
I fill the whole sheet of A4 and keep some for another day but if you don't want to do that you need 11 hearts. Before i cut mine out i spritz them with a mica spritz (a bit of mica powder mixed with water, you can also add some ink if you wish) this is not a necessary step but i like to do it.

In 5 of the hearts you need to cut a slit up the middle, mine are abut 2cm up but you don't need to be precise!

You then need to shape the 'petals' with a bone folder, pencil or whatever you have to hand. Where you have cut the slit cross one side over the other and secure, so you end up with a petal like this...

Do this with 5 of the hearts, then you can assemble your base layer, a wet glue is best as it gives you a bit of 'moveability' i've used my craft studio paper flower expert glue, as it doesn't take long to 'grab hold'

Your first layer should look something like this

Do the same for the next 3 petals, cutting a slither (very precise i know!!!) away from one side of the slit, this is just so you can pull the petal tighter together.

Place these 3 petals in the middle of your first layer, i find it easier to this before i glue it down just so i have an idea of where i want them placed.

For your next 2 petals you need to cut away roughly 1.5cm off the bottom of your hearts, and the cut your slit about halfway up. it is then the sam process as making the previous petals. however i found it easier to do the cross over first and then shape the petals while holding in place and then glue.

Again fix these into the centre of you flower.

To make the centre of the flower, you need to cut a spiral into your final heart, making sure you leave a small circular 'base'

Roll it into the centre, then fix to the base you left in the middle (i used pinflair to do this), finally attach to the centre of you flower.

The finished flower

I hope you've managed to follow my tutorial, let me know how you get on. xx

Flower...

2012-01-12T05:42:00.001-08:00

Just a quick post to test my new blogger app and to share the flower i've made with the free stamp on this months craft stamper. I'm sure most of you can figure out how to do this :) but if anyone wants to know how i did it just ask i'm happy to share :D
To be honest i think the centre could do with some work (i was trying to just use thr hearts!) if anyone has any ideas please do share.
Ttfn
Xx

pages from my december journal & a gift

2011-12-11T04:14:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post today to share the latest pages from my december/christmas journal

I didn't do much at all on the 7th so i've just been sticking christmassy things all over the page!

Also, i've finally put together my dads christmas gift!!

I've put together a diary for him, he loves music, so this paper was the perfect choice =) i've used the tim holtz winter distress inks to colour it. The letters were cut on my cricut

I use the same distress in on the inside cover and put glue onto the red covering from my sticky strip and placed it round the edges to create the effect you can see at the top of the page. My dad is always taking notes so after each month i've added 2 pages of note paper.

thats all for now, got to go and put a scrapbook kit together for my mother in law =)

xx

Christmas Journal

2011-12-07T05:15:00.000-08:00

I've seen a few people who are journalling their december/christmas and you can join shimelles online class here http://www.shimelle.com/paper/1284/journal-your-christmas-2011-online-scrapbooking-class/ i would really liked to have joined but i can't justify the cost this year =( will definitely be signing up for next years (it will be included in the xmas budget!!)

Still working on my opening page, i want it to be a bit of a christmassy collage

So i spent me afternoon putting my own journal together. Now i'm no expert book binder so all i did was stitch some of the polka doodles ultimate graphic card together with my cover which is stampin up card stock (sorry can't think of the exact colour !). The image is a christmas freebie on tattered and inked which i printed and then inked with the new winter distress inks.

The numbers i've used for the pages can be found here they are actually in red but i printed them off in greyscale and then decorated them myself, you could still do this with them in the red as many of the designs are very 'open'

I've made too many christmas cards, so i've used one here as a pocket

My journalling may still be not be great but it's getting there and i'm trying to just use what is around me, i don't want this to be a project full of shiny brand new products (SHOCK HORROR!!) i want it to truly represent this holiday season =)

I'm going to try and post my new pages daily (or every other day at the very least). Hopefully this will keep me on track, as this lil project is supposed to help keep the christmas stress at bay!

xxx

got my crafty mojo back =D

2011-12-06T13:36:00.000-08:00

I know my posts have been very sporadic lately, and i apologise to my lovely followers (albeit a small number!) but to be honest i've just not been feeling very creative lately =( Its that time of year when the hubby spends the majority of his time at work, and it gets me a bit melancholy, you'd think i'd be used to this by now but hey ho!

thanks to sum surfing round blogland i'm back and feeling rather more positive and getting into the festive spirit =D

Before i share what i've been up to i want to share with you some of the blogs that have inspired me...
http://craftyloops.blogspot.com/ Lee, a fellow docrafter, always makes lovely, just a lil bit different things. Shes a fab flower maker but i love all the books and little embellishment items she makes(check out her stick pins)
http://tatteredandinked.blogspot.com/ great freebies and inspiration for all manner of crafty projects
http://dyan-reaveley.blogspot.com/ has inspired me to have a go at journalling: not art journalling i'm not that brave!
http://www.smashstoriesblog.com/ recently got myself a smash book, so its nice having a little nosey at what other people are using theirs for.
http://sweetly.weebly.com/ lots of amazing free printables

any way thats just a few of the bits and bobs i've been looking at (the bits are saved on my ipad!!)

sooooooooooo what have i been up to!? well as i said i have been inspired to start journalling. I like the idea of having a record of my daily life, as well as special occasions. I've started with a small moleskine cashier notebook, and put myself together a lil journalling kit

I'm starting myself off simply, and taking my inspiration from the smash book phenomenon. Everyday i write down what i am 'currently' doing under the following headings...
Listening
Eating
Drinking
Wearing
Feeling
weather
Wanting
Needing
Thinking
Enjoying
sometimes some things don't really change much (like the weather at the mo!) but its really getting me thinking, and i'm sure my style will grow with time.

so you can see my decorated journal

everything all wrapped up

I think this post has gone on long enough now, i've got a couple more bits and pieces to share with you but think i'll pop them on another post!!

TTFN!
XX

Finally made progress...

2011-11-14T03:22:00.000-08:00

with my christmas crafting! sorry i've not blogged for a while, had a lot going on lately so unfortunately blogging (and crafting slightly) has taken a bit of a backseat =( but enough of that! I've been getting myself quite stressed about christmas this year but i am finally getting there and have made a couple of gifts, bought a few more and have some more projects ready to go =D I've even got lists now!! so feeling a bit more organised and a little less stressed!

The first thing i wanted to share with you is this little jewellery box i've decorated for my mum.

it really didn't take me long at all, i was watching kirsties handmade britain and she was making a decoupage seagull and straight away i just got up grabbed some papers, pva, paint brush and a little wooden box i'd been hoarding for ages and got cutting and sticking!

Secondly i want to share my version of a smash book, i saw this scrap 365 magazine and, seeing as i have been coveting smash books for ages now (i have finally ordered myself one & i cannot wait!) i just could resist giving it a go.

This will be going to my sister for christmas, its a great way to use up your stash, and i had great fun picking out all the papers and playing with all the different bits and pieces to put this book together.

I cut pockets and tags from my cricut, inked up some postcards, and put in some stickers had i had around the house (mostly picked up in pound shops, wilkinson etc.) so she has a few bits to use with the book.

The kit on the front contains a small glue stick, a couple of pens, a date stamp, a small pair of scissors and i'm hoping to add a small masking tape or something similar, so she can scrap on the go. i really enjoyed putting this together and i know i'll end up making loads but thats fine, i'll give some as gifts and i'll use the rest. They are perfect for me anyway. I keep a lot of little bits and pieces, in fact i have a box full hidden away somewhere which would probably fill a few books in one go!

another birthday card!

2011-10-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my middle sons 4th birthday tomorrow, and to say he's excited is an understatement!! this is the card i have all ready to give him in the morning before he dashes it aside (after taking the badge off) to open his presents!!

i've used another LOTV image as the main image and the papers were actually 'scraps' from other projects! the card blank is from hunkydory and i got my distress inks out on it, as well as the lettering for is name ( cut on my cricut).

anyways better go wrap the presents now!

Bit of a late one tonight...

2011-10-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

but I had to share! I've been really wanting to start scrap booking for a few months now, but i just didn't know where to start. I have so many pictures on the computer its ridiculous, i've been thinking i need to buy a whole co ordinating scrapbook set and i'm a bit scared of starting with a 12x12 page. But tonight i got all that out of my head!! I've found a 6x6 album i like and i decided to start with the newest arrival to our family and then from there i hope to move on to a 12x12 of all three of my boys.

So this is what i came up with...

Sorry about the quality of the pic, i'll try and get a better one in the daylight

I drew a sketch based on a 12x12 page I saw (sorry can't remember where right now!) and adapted it for my 6x6 page. i have to say, i'm really proud of myself for just getting on with it and i can't wait to so some more pages (just got to get all my pics printed now!!)

Birthdays...

2011-10-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

I have a fair number of family birthdays from september onwards (as well as other events such as my anniversary!) today we had a birthday party for my (now) 7 year old and soon to be 4 year old, so now that i am taking some time to relax after having a bunch of over excited kids running around i thought i'd share a coupe of the cards i've made so far.

The first is the card i made for my sons 7th birthday which was on monday

The image is a lilly of the valley stamp which i have coloured with spectrum noirs and copics. i cut the puzzle letters out on my new cricut (which i got for my anniversary at the end of sept) and inked them with real red stampin up ink. the badge is actually from haven, my sons been collecting them so i keep a small stash of them as little treats and this one worked well with the colours for the card.

my mums birthday is two days after my sons so this is the card i made for her...

The stamp i have used is one from the kanban fashionista sets. I inked the base card with crumb cake stampin up ink and stamped with a birthdays wishes sentiment stamp, also from stampin up and the crown image is from the same kanban set as the dress. the card across the middle was embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder (elegant script i believe)

The zipper rose and the hat pins are from creative expressions, the other two flowers were cut on my cricut and inked in pumkin pie and early expresso stampin up inks. i used card candi for the centres which i also inked to match. the main colours used in this card came from the flowers as i made a whole batch of them while i was experimenting with my new toy! and i just loved this colour combo =)

and finally (i promise this is it!) the gift i made for my mum...

originally i was going to do a floral display (she really likes paper flowers) but during one of my evening colouring sessions (while hubby was watching some rubbish on TV!) i fell i love with this image (from Polka doodles - a double sprinkle of kraft cd rom) so i decided to work around it =)

The image was coloured using a mix of copics and spectrum noirs

I used more flowers cut from my cricut coloured using distress inks, copics, spectrum noirs and stampin up inks. the scrunched flower was cut using the peony spellbinders die.

This butterfly was also cut using the cricut, i cut all the layers in very vanilla cardstock and the inked the bottom two layers to create the effect and added some self adhesive rhinestones for a bit of bling!

its my dads birthday on wednesday and my middle sons birthday on friday so i'll be back to share those projects soon =)

Quick baby shower card

2011-10-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

last week a friend of mine had a beautiful little baby girl :) so i'm a bit late in posting this card! i wasn't going to other but i think its soooo cute! (hopefully you'll agree!)

It was really quick and simple to make, which is lucky as i didn't leave myself much time to put it together! i used one of my fee j designs cd roms and just added a little hint of glitter and a glittery peel off over the join between the papers. the letters for the wording are from the do crafts me to you range.

over the next few days i'll have a few cards to share as i've got a few family birthdays all together so i've messed up my recently tidied craft space making cards for everyone =)

21st birthday

2011-09-22T04:54:00.000-07:00

For the first time ever, i was asked to make a card on behalf of someone else!! it was a lovely confidence boost, but also very nerve racking, it would not be good to muck up for someone else!! i didn't have much to go on design wise but anyway heres what i came up with...

the backing paper is by K & Co from my huge 'best of' stack :), the butterflies, letters and numbers are from the double sprinkles of kraft cd rom by polka doodles and the flowers are some hunkydory ones i had floating around my stash.

i got to use my brand new bigshot (even though its not my birthday yet..hehe) to make the mount for the '21' to live on. this card ended up very pink, which i haven't really done before, but i took my cue from the polka dots in the '2' and went from there. all in al i must say i am very pleased with this card, i almost didn't want to hand it over!!!

Thankfully i was not the only one pleased with my results the card has been very well received, so i am smugly relieved at the moment...until i have another crisis of confidence that is!

Party Time!...

2011-09-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

Next month my two biggest boys will be celebrating their birthdays with a joint party (yes they are still young enough for me to get away with this!!) so i have been busy making the invitations. Well to be honest its only a small party, and i actually took all the time deciding what products i was going to use (and buy!), coming up with the design and putting them together actually didn't take too long :)

Anyway in the end i bought some Bo Bunny space stamps (the partys in the space room) for the rocket which is the main feature for the invites. For the inked background i used night of navy ink pad from stampin' up and textured white card stock from papermania. the base card is also from papermania, and the wording stamps are again, from stampin' up.

I was inspired to do the background in this way at christmas card club with vicky, my stampin' up demonstrator, i'll upload the card that inspired me as soon as i take a pic of it.

Stamp a stack with stampin up

2011-08-29T03:19:00.000-07:00

On saturday was my monthly class with Vicky my stampin up demonstrator and, as the title of this post suggests we made a stack of cards, complete with box to store them in (which vicky had kindly already made up for us to save time - all we had to do was the fun part, the decorating) we made six cards using the springtime vintage suite, with enough materials to repeat them again once we got home. I have to say i was very surprised how versatile the collection is, as initially i thought it would just be quite girly but it works well for male cards and lends itself nicely to the distressed look. anyway here are all the cards....

Look what i've been up to...

2011-08-29T03:01:00.000-07:00

I've not picked up a set of knitting needles for a while but, after getting Let's get crafting knit & crochet half price at doncaster racecourse i finally gave it a go again. i must say i am very pleased with the results =) i've just got the next issue and am going to give a pair of frog slippers a go, and i can't wait for the christmas issue next month, i'm going to try making socks!!

Then i put my jewellery starter kit to good use to make a little birthday gift for my niece, again i'm pretty happy with the results, especially as it didn't actually take me too long to put together (she only has a small wrist!) i think a few people may be getting jewellery for christmas this year!

finally i put together a little name book to be used as an example for the summer holiday kids club my husbands running in his pub. he asked me to put a few crafty projects together for a couple of the weeks to keep the kids busy and this is one of the projects i came up with.

I cheated and didn't use my full name (i was a bit pushed for time!)

Still Here...and trying to get up to date!

2011-08-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

After being away from home for 3 weeks, i am finally recovered from our not so relaxing holiday! we had a nice time, it was just very busy. me and the kids spent a week at my parents for my sisters engagement party and then 2 weeks in mablethorpe, trying to fit in all the different things the boys wanted to do =) i still managed to find some time to do some craft shop finding and got my mum to show me how to crochet (i haven't been able to get my head round it at all!!!).

I have a few thing i want to share with everyone, i've been trying some new things and have my stamp a stack cards to share from my monthly class with vicky so will start uploading all the pics tomorrow. i just thought i'd update, just so you knew i was still pottering around =D

anyhoo, until tomorrow
xxx

Christmas in july

2011-07-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

On saturday i went to a fab little class run by vicky, who is a stampin up! demonstrator. The theme, as the title of this post suggests, was christmas in july. Vicky runs her classes from her kitchen, for a limited number of people. There is a very relaxed atmosphere, and as the newbie to the group i was made to feel very welcome and no one was patronising towards me at all, while still offering me great hints and tips =) she runs a couple of other clubs/classes so if you're in the northamptonshire area check out her blog and see what shes up to.

My lovely handmade bookmark and it's cute packaging

We were greeted with a lil handmade gift and christmas songs in the background to get us in the festive spirit, our goodies consisted of a set of tree trimmings stamps and jolly holidays designer papers.

We made a lovely selection of cards, some were quite simple but looked great. Which is great if you've got lots of christmas cards to make.

I love the colours we used, because while they are traditional colours, they aren't old fashioned and have a fresh modern feel to them. i can't wait to actually order my christmas supplies and start making my own batch of christmas cards (i don't have too many to make so i won't be starting my just yet).

I got the chance to have a go with the big shot, which we used to make some gift packaging and add some texture to one of our cards. I've been thinking about selling my grand calibur as its a bit restricted with the dies you can use and after saturday, its on ebay as i type!!!!

I think i actually enjoyed this class more than the workshop in doncaster as there were fewer people and you could really chat and it was nice to go somewhere local to me and get to know other crafters. I can't wait till next months class.

As well as the projects we made vicky gave us ideas for christmas packaging and decorating. she had an amazing advent box on display, which i must work out how to make in time for christmas! Suffice to say i placed my first (of many i'm guessing!) order today (its taken me this long to actually decide what to buy!) and i've already got a rather large list of things i want from the catalogue. well its my birthday in september, so guess what i'm getting!!!....

Summer Crafting

2011-07-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

I've just got back from a lovely weekend spent in doncaster =) I managed to combine a visit to my parents with a weekend of crafty fabulousness!! On friday I went to the workshop with stephanie and nancy & was lucky enough to have Diane looking after our table.

Some of the items from our goody bags

This was the first ever workshop i've been to, so it was a bit over whelming when i walked in and saw soooooo many people milling about but everyone was so friendly & we were all there for the same reason so i was relaxed and having a good laugh in no time =) I even managed to sit next to someone who is relatively new to crafting, just like me!

My favourite of the days projects

None of the projects were too difficult, but lovely all the same, and i tried some things that i hadn't tried before (even though i'd been meaning to!). I think some of the more experienced crafters felt a bit frustrated as they felt 'there was nothing new' about the workshop, but in all honesty we see these people on TV regularly, & they had to work out projects that lots of people (of different skill levels) could all complete in the time we had.

As i said i think all the projects were lovely and overall it was a good day, everyone had a good laugh and stephanie and nancy did their very best to get round and talk to everyone and have pictures with those who wanted them. unfortunately i didn't get to have a picture with diane (she is very sweet and hardworking) as she was surrounded by people wanting to join the MCS platinum club & she was just as busy during the show on the saturday and sunday demoing the cd roms and all the new features and exclusive downloads for platinum members.

The free MCS Platinum club stamps

I managed to spend so much money over the weekend, i think i've now got enough stash to keep me going for months, the hubby says i won't need to buy anything for ages now (and realistically i probably don't) but i know i will 'need' something else soon enough!! I do have my stamps away ink dabber deluxe collection to come as i arranged for it to be delivered so i didn't have to carry it around =) and the lovely Ali reeves gave me some info on a local craft group, which i'll hopefully to be able to attend from september (they're taking a break for the summer soon)

Some the purchases i made over the weekend =)

Any ways, enough babble from me for a while. Time for me to try and relax after my busy weekend and start playing with my new goodies =D

Swap cards

2011-07-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

I've not been well this week so haven't had much time for crafty pursuits =( after (finally) seeing my dr i'm almost bac to 100% (just on time for doncaster at the weekend!). so i'll be starting the invites for my sisters baby shower in september, i've decided to put my humphreys corner cd rom to good use.

Any way what have i managed to create since my last post well i used my bird sanctuary and floral flourishes shapeabilities to decorate my wallet card for the july wallet swap on the Do crafts forum, it was my first ever swap and i must say it was an enjoyable and actually pretty exciting experience =) so thanks to Karen aka Redrottie for the fabby swap and all the lovely images that kept me occupied while i was 'suffering'!

My next card was for the july friendship swap and i used one of my humphreys corner stamps, and i'm so pleased with how its turned out. it was so simple to put together but i really love this lil card.

My spellbinders dies have arrived!!!!

2011-06-29T04:18:00.000-07:00

WOOOOHOOOO! my C&C multi buy os spellbinders dies arrived today, i'm so excited i've been working with just the oval nestabilities that came with my machine so i'm off to have a play and see what i can come up with...thats if i get round to actually making any cards, i think i'm going to be spending a long time cutting and embossing!!!

Pastels but no pink!

2011-06-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

I actually found this challenge quite difficult, i found trying to get a decent picture of it even harder!!! (i really need to find something to help me take better photos of my cards) i made this using the free digi stamp on A day for daisies blog and coloured it in with my pro markers (i really need some more of those!) and added some glitter to my lil fairie (how could i not!)

Items used:
Papermania henbury lane paper
ADFD digi stamp
vintage ribbon from my stash
Glitter
Promarkers
hunkydory card blank

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

A Day for daisies Challenge 21 Pastels but no pink

Hooked on craft challenges Flowers

Red, White and Blue: My first challenge entries!

2011-06-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

Not had the most productive day today, the lil man has been very unimpressed by this lovely heat wave and I've thrown so much paper around in frustration its ridiculous!! however I've still managed to take the plunge and start entering some challenges, so here its goes...wish me luck =)

Materials I've used:
Hunkydory card blank
polkadot embossed powder blue card
polka doodles wonderland stamps
polka doodles digi stamp (double sprinkles of Kraft)
some papers and glitter from my stash
promarkers
Sentiment from forever friends retro collection

I am entering into the following challenges:
Polka doodles: Stash box stamps & colour theme
I love pro markers: Challenge 71
Die Cut Dreams: Challenge 92

Birthday Card

2011-06-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

I'm really pleased with this cute little car for my niece. it really didn't take very long either! i used my lovely hunkydory card blanks which were so easy to ink up with my trusty distress ink and just matted,layered and decoupaged cute lil raindrop onto the card.