Venice and Opera

It was one of my lovely friend's 50th Birthday recently and the lucky thing was goin to stay in Venice  and go to the opera there -how fab is that for a birthday treat-I hope my hubby is taking note :)So I thought I'd make an appropriate card using the gorgeous Venice-gondola stamp which I brayered over with kaleidacolor inksto give the impression of the coloured houses  and the water. I then backed it on to some sheet music which I distressed with broken china and added a tiny 50 (don't want to rub it in )cut out of more music. It's a pity my camera is so rubbish as the colours look so much better in real life but it gives the idea.

Anniversary Card-Gingersnaps Kraft challenge

On Monday it's my 24th Wedding Anniversary and I made this Venice card for my wonderful husband. I picked the Venice theme as we hope to go there for our Silver wedding next year. I used the oxford impressions stamps and stamped lots of individual images on kraft card then masked them off and stamped over the top with Italian text. I saw the Gingersnap Kraft challenge and thought I'd enter this :)

Lucy's class :Birthday card

Lucy has been teaching us how to make some lovely backgrounds by dabbing distress inks on a craft sheet then spritzing with water and picking up the inks on some paper or card,then when dry dab a contrast colour through some sequin waste and spray with cosmic shimmer-such a fab effect. I used some of the background I made for this card and added an ant stamp ,an stamped flower and pearl.
I then added a great Bible verse which sums up my friend who is always so busy doing so much for others -an amazing lady :)

Lucy's Class ; Inspiration Alison

When at Lucy's class recently we saw a fabulous Alice coaster hanging made by her friend Alison (http://craftytrog.wordpress.com)%20-/a site very worth a visit it has sooo many amazing pieces on and is so inspirational. we were so impressed we asked Lucy to show us how to make one and this is my humble interpretation -a far cry from the original but my first attempt and I was pleased at how it turned out .

I brayered the background with Baby powder kaleidacolor then stamped various patterns on and added some distressed book text.I then stamped my favourite Oxford Impressions Alice stamps on glossy card in sepia then cut them out and mounted them with foam pads on the coasters. I added a shrink plastic cup and saucer that Lucy made for me and  tiny test tube filled with beads which I put 'DRINK ME 'in book text on

My Daughter's Birthday Card

I made this gate fold card based on a Paris theme for my lovely youngest daughter who is hoping to go to Paris this summer and who is the best French speaker in the family. I used some lovely Parisienne papers,an Eiffel tower made from friendly plastic and various stamps and embellishments.

Ruby wedding anniversary card

Card made using my cuttlebug for a special friend's ruby wedding

Accordian card

This is an accordian birthday card I made for my lovely neice Inez's 7th birthday using my wonderful oxford impressions Alice stamps,Cosmo cricket and My Mind's eye papers.

Another tin

I love decorating these tiny tins and this one I did using alcohol inks

Lucy's Class

Before

After

In Lucy's class this week we decorated these really cute little tins -available from the Altered Element at a  good price. First we dabbed different coloured StazOn inks on to the tin ,set it with a heat gun, then stamped  them with black archival ink and then rubbed it off leaving the impression behind-such a fun tehnique I will definitely be trying more of this thanks Lucy :)

Cuttlebug Card

This is a lovely birthday card my talented daughter made for a friend while she was home for the holidays. I love the way she used the cut outs rather than the letters and kept to just using various shades of green and pink -I will definitely have to take some lessons from her :)

The Unknown Bird

My first vintage look card based around a poem called 'The Unknown Bird'. I used a blend of Victorian Velvet and Vintage photo distress inks on the background card , then aged a piece of music and the poem with antique linen and tea dye distress inks. I used spellbinders shapeabilities to cut out the birds then distress inked the flowers and added some pearls which I thought tied in well with the Allsorts petals and Pearls challenge.

Hmmm definitely needs practice

Well had a go at trying to do something with the tags and all but one came out disasterously but I thought I'd still blog them as this is my very first attempt ever and then in a year or so I can look back and hopefully see some progress. I have so gotta get me some decent arty type stamps which might help -I'll have to be extra nice to my hubby and suggest some for my birthday :)

Gotta love distress inks

Today I had a play with my new distress inks that my lovely Hubby bought me for Easter. I tried the technique that Lucy showed us in our last class where you blot the ink pads on a craft sheet, spritz with water then dab your tags or paper in it and pick up the various inks.

These were my first attempts and I had great but messy fun doing them -they look a little sludgy in the picture but that's my dodgy camera not the inks ,they came out much more vibrant looking in real life.

Now I just have to decide what to stamp on top and in what colours etc.-Where's Lucy when I need her ?

My Sister's birthday card

This was my first attempt at inking my own background and colouring the leaves and dying the ribbon -the colours don't show up to well here but were a lot more vibrant in real life.

Birthday card

A3d (although it doesn't show up well here as I didn't have my camera and stuck it in the scanner) birthday card.

Vicki's birthday card

This was one of my very first cards I made -for my daughter's 22cnd birthday .

Two firsts -Altered stuff and Allsorts challenge

Before

After

This is my first attempt at altering something and my first entry in a challenge-Allsorts 'rags to riches' I was inspired by Lucy Edmondson's(True Colours Blog) Amazing Alice mirror featured in the last edition of making gifts magazine -it's fab. I decided to make my own majorly inferior version and had a lot of fun doing it. The base is an Ikea mirror which was the bargain price of £1-19 and I used distress inks to make a rainbow like background on pieces of stampbord to signify the wonderland feel (it ended up a bit more like somewhere over the rainbow from the Wizard of Oz but hey I'm still learning) .Then I stamped the Alice images from the Oxford Impressions Classic Alice set -which are stunning and will be featuring heavily in many guises on here over the next few weeks.

I had no idea how difficult it is to photograph a mirror but after many disasterous attempts this is the best I could get. I can't wait to try altering more things -if it ain't moving then I'll be altering -best the cats don't stay still too long lol

Settling In

Well I've managed to arrange my crafting stash on and around my new workspace and this will be the first and last time it'll be this tidy.It's so cool to have a permanent place to work at and be able to leave stuff out .

As I get more bits and pieces I'll definitely have to spread out a bit more -hmmm how can I persuade my hubby to turn the office into a craft room -well we all live in hope :)

Woo hoo its here !

I had a lovely surprise today -while I was out at my craft group my new work desk arrived and my lovely hubby put it together for me so it was waiting for me when I got home. This is my very first  workspace and probably the last time it will ever look like this. I can't wait till tomorrow when I can start organising all my stuff on and around it -I feel the need for more storage coming on and I wonder how much gentle persuading hubby dearest will need to put some shelves up for me. See it starts at one desk and already I'm planning my take over bid of the whole office mwa hahahaha.

Crafting Queen

This is a bithday card I made for our amazing craft teacher Lucy- a definite Queen of Crafting . I used one of my favourite flourish stamps and my new white ink pad that I bought yesterday ,some cute little gems, mini scissors and a book plate image. Happy birthday for the 31st Lucy :)