More Mini Eggs!

Hey!

Happy Tuesday! Hope you're having a good week so far (ours is a little soggy, but I feel lucky seeing as some places in the UK are experiencing yet more snow!)

At a last minute request from Chris, I was commissioned to make a couple of Easter cards for his Nana and Granny. I was on the hunt for a nice stamp during my shopping spree at the NEC and came across a pretty nice one on the Magnolia stall. Now I'm not really a fan of the cutesy images and I'll confess that those Magnolia characters kinda freak me out a little with the lack of mouths but this Easter stamp just looked fun to get inked up and coloured in:

Apologies for the poor lighting, we've got some new super energy efficient LED bulbs that are doing my photography no favours and with the super soggy weather there's no beauty of natural lighting to help me either!

Now before you say it, I know there's no bow/buttons! Chris wanted to post these with a small stamp so it was requested that they were made to be as flat as possible! Grrr, I hate having my creativity flattened like that (pun totally intended - tee hee!)

Seeing as Chris wouldn't let me tie pretty bows or play with buttons, I went for a different border on the second card just because! Well really, it was to road test my new PTI Scalloped Border die which cut like buttah in my 'bug! Check out how those scallops fit perfectly on your basic 4.25 x 5.5 cards!

Card Recipes
Stamps: Magnolia Three Eggs
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa
Card: PTI Dark Chocolate/Spring Rain/Stamper's Select White/Sweet Blush Bitty Dot Basics
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nesties/PTI Medium Scalloped Border/EK Success Embossed Curve Border Punch/PTI Lemon Tart Grosgrain Ribbon/Promarkers

I love how those eggs are coloured like HUGE Mini Eggs (now there's an Oxymoron for ya!) in the grass. Again, on the hunt for yet another bag of Mini Eggs to accompany my pics resulted in Chris confessing he'd scoffed the bag whilst I was away at the Hobbycrafts Event!

Of course, this stamp isn't the only thing I purchased at the NEC on Saturday! I also nabbed a few paper punches, some more glossy accents (after my recent fix of 'em I'll probably not open the bottle for a good few years LOL!) and some other bits 'n' bobs you'll see featured on some creations soon! So looking forward to the next two weeks off to indulge in quality inky time and catch up with y'all too! Just gotta get this last hurdle of a week outta the way first though...at least it's only a four-day week with Good Friday ;D

Catch ya later!
Aimes
x

Masculine and Monochrome...

Hey!

TGI Friday, Peeps! I'm so ready for the weekend - probably because I'm due to go to the Hobbycrafts Event at Birmingham NEC. I know it's always so busy and I can hardly make it to the front of the stalls to buy anything (maybe that's a good thing!) but it's still a nice day out with my mum! If you're going, look out for me LOL!

Today I'm finally getting around to showing you another masculine card made for another brother's birthday!

Now this brother is a fan of Derby County, so it'd be rude not to make him a card in their colours! Just a coincidence that black and white works for masculine cards too ;D

Card Recipe
Stamps: Star Prints/Daily Designs Sentiments
Ink: Memento Black
Card: Stamper's Select White/True Black/True Black Bitty Star Basics
Accessories: Saddle Stitch True Black Ribbon/Cuttlebug/Nesties

OK just a short, little post from me today! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and I hope to catch up with you all soon!

Catch ya later!
Aimes
x

Missing: Mini Eggs!

Hey!

Happy Monday! Hope your week is off to a good start... My drive to work today was rather cheerful in that the sun was shining brightly, I even had to wear my shades and I spotted a few signs that say Spring is truly here! Cue some gorgeous Crocuses in bloom and Daffodils just on the point of revealing those gorgeous yellow petals...ahh no more ice and snow - hurrah!

Talking of Spring (see my clever link there - eh?!) we've got a new challenge over on our PTI blog and would love it if you joined in! Our challenge is to create something to celebrate spring or Easter (it's creeping up y'know!)

I kinda mixed the challenges, we don't tend to send Easter cards in my family as we focus on scoffing the Easter treats! Due to this, I've never got around to owning an Easter themed stamp set. However, I did spot a cute chick in my PTI Daily Designs set as well as a Spring sentiment in the coordinating sentiments set.

So here's a cute lil' treat box to fill with whatever you desire (so long as it fits!). Now my plan was to fill this box with some Cadbury's Mini Eggs (you just can't beat 'em) and place a few in front of my box for this pic; but surprise, surprise, in my bid to find that bag of 'em that I know we had, they're nowhere to be found! Hmmm I don't think it takes a super detective to work out where they've ended up...LOL!

(Sorry for poor lighting, dashed home from work to take this pic but the daylight beat me!)

So this box is SUPER easy to make and just takes up one sheet of cardstock - seriously! The most time was spent on deciding my colour combo! D'ya see that Melon Berry?! Yup, I'm learning to use it and not loathe it! I guess as an accent colour I can make it work for me...

Edited to add: This also qualifies for Lisa Johnson's Poppy Seed Challenge #2! I recommend you play along with this challenge too - fabulous for getting those Spring themed creative juices flowing ;D

Anyways, I digress! So if you fancy joining in our challenge then that would be fab! If you're a European Peep, you could also be in the chance of winning these delicious PTI goodies:

1 sheet of each design of PTI's Turning a New Leaf DP (8x8, 6 sheets in total) and a whole new roll of dark chocolate grosgrain ribbon!

So, what are you waiting for?! Start thinking Spring/Easter and get inky!

Catch ya later!

Aimes
x

Not a St. Patrick's Day Card...

Hey!


Happy St Patrick's Day to all of you who celebrate it! It's certainly been a green-themed day at work today with a bit of Irish Stew thrown in for good measure at dinner time (I guess serving pints of the good black stuff too isn't allowed in a school LOL!)


Now I would share a St Patrick's Day card but we don't really tend to celebrate it that much (though we tend to celebrate it more than our own national day!). Though as my guy is part Irish I use that as my excuse to join in the partying side rather than the card-giving side! I've found that the Irish certainly know how to party ;D


So what to share with you today then?! How about the cards I made for Mother's Day last Sunday? You've probably already seen them on our PTI Blog, but if you haven't you can see them now!


Firstly, this one was for Chris' mum:

Do you recognise it? Yup, CASED my own take on one of Maile Belles' cards that I'd done previously! I just had so much fun stamping away that all that needed changing was the sentiment!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Friends 'til the End
Ink: Raspberry Fizz/Summer Sunrise
Card: Vintage Cream/Raspberry Fizz
Accessories: Raspberry Fizz Grosgrain Ribbon/Doodlebug Transfers/Decorative Scissors/3D Foam Pads


This was the card made for my mum (remember, she's a fan of pink so although this isn't my style, it's certainly hers!)
I don't own a scalloped border die yet (hoping it's on it's way to me ;D) so resorted to cutting a rectangular nestie instead. The sentiment hides the join - clever eh?!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Daily Designs/Daily Designs Sentiments
Ink: Sweet Blush/Spring Rain/Versamark
Card: Sweet Blush/Vintage Cream/Sweet Blush Bitty Dot Basics/Spring Rain
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities/White Detail EP/Vintage Cream Satin Ribbon/3D Foam Pads

Well, I hope you like them! I think the mums did! I'll be back soon as I have a couple of cards yet to share with you (including another dreaded masculine one!)

Thanks so much for visiting! I really appreciate it!

Catch ya later!
Aimes
x

My Guest DT Spot!

Hey!

Happy Monday!

Blink and you may just miss it, but it's my lil' moment of fame as a Guest DT for the CAS Design Team over at Splitcoast Stampers! I can't tell you how excited I am and how honoured I feel to have been asked by Jen - thanks so much, Jen!

So for the CAS Challenge today (they're issued every Monday here) we have a St Patrick's Theme goin' down! All creations must feature any shade of White/Cream, Green and Brown. Creations can be for any occasion so don't feel restricted to St Patrick's Day cards! Pretty open scope eh?! Why not play along too?!

Well with this brief in mind, I couldn't resist inking up my new Studio Style set:


I dunno if you can tell, but I covered my jars in Glossy Accents to make them glass-like. It looks much cooler IRL, and my photography doesn't do a good job catching it so I'll just have to hope you can imagine it LOL! (Check out the jar on the far left to get a basic idea!)

I'll confess that my lack of patience made this the card that's taken me the longest to make, EVER! I just couldn't wait for those darn Glossy Accents to dry; I bodged up 3 button jars, I kid you not! I even resorted to putting them in the fridge!!! Well I guess the saying goes, patience is a virtue...maybe I should learn from it!

Card Recipe
All PTI Supplies
Stamps: Studio Style
Ink: Dark Chocolate
Card: White
Accessories: Glossy Accents/Promarkers/Dark Chocolate Twill

Ooh now I'm thinking I could do this layout in a number of different colour combos - how fun would Raspberry Fizz buttons look against Aqua Mist buttons?! The possibilities are endless!

Thanks so much for stopping by and letting me share my little piece of fun news with y'all, I really appreciate it!

I promise to be back soon - actually got a backlog of cards to post up here! Also hoping to be popping in on your wonderful blogs and checking out what you've all been up to, it's been far too long!

Catch ya later!

Aimes
x

Butterfly Bliss!

Hey!

Phew! What a super busy week it's been - so sorry I've been a little M.I.A this past week but it's just been one thing after another!

I will confess that I did have a sneaky night off my busy week to attend one of the SU Events here in Sheffield. Well, it'd be rude not to when it was literally down the road from me! I had a fab time getting inky. It was also fabulous to meet a few familiar faces in real life too - *big waves* to Monica and Jules! Your demos were wonderful and a pleasure to watch! It did feel kinda strange being on such a tight time limit with stamping, it made me realise what a perfectionist and slow coach I am when it comes to stamping LOL!!!

So this weekend has been super busy too! Not only have I just returned from celebrating Mother's Day with my own mum (if you wanna sneak peek of my Mother's Day Cards check out the PTI Blog ;D I'll post 'em up here later!), but I've been busy celebrating another brother's birthday too! Yup, cue another tough masculine card to share with you very soon....

But enough of cards I'm planning to share with you in the future, how about a card to share now?!

Mmmmmm, I have to say I'm in Butterfly Heaven with my new Butterfly Dreams Set! Y'see, I kinda have a thing for Butterflies...dunno why exactly. Maybe it's because I like to believe that everyone can blossom into something beautiful or maybe it's because of my vivid memory of calling them Flutterbies when I was little because that's what my Dad told me they were called! (He did get a little ear-bashing from my mum for teaching me the wrong word LOL!) Anyways, I love 'em and I have to confess I love this card a little too!

This qualifies for the recent challenge set by our PTI Peeps group. The challenge was to use orange zest for a feminine card with brownie points if you could get spring rain in there along with tea. Now I don't own a tea themed set *gasp*! so I'm qualifying for just the one brownie point ;D Using the bright, bold colour as just an accent really balances the colours well, as well as letting that orange butterfly take center stage:


I can't capture just how sparkly those butterflies are IRL! My centre butterfly is covered in Glossy Accents so it's super sparkly AND super shiny! *sigh* I just can't stop adoring it in the light!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Butterfly Dreams
Ink: Memento Black
Card: White/Spring Rain/Orange Zest
Accessories: Versamark Pen/Copic Spica Clear Pen/Fine Line Black Pen/Glossy Accents

Stay tuned because it's my moment of fame tomorrow! I'm gonna be the Guest Designer for the CAS Team over on Splitcoast Stampers - sooooo excited and I can't wait to share my card with you tomorrow!

Catch ya later!
Aimes
x

P.S If you've got a mo, please take a look at my good bloggin' buddy, Maureen's delicious Blog Candy! Not only will you be drooling over the candy, but you'll be drooling over her creations too!

A Winner!

Hey!

Happy Monday! Hope you've all had a fab start to the week so far...

If you didn't realise already, my Blog Anniversary Candy ended yesterday so now comes the fun part to select a winner! To be fair and square I used Random.Org and without further ado, here are the results:

Here are your random numbers:

51 

Timestamp: 2010-03-08 20:16:58 UTC

So the winner of the Blog Candy is KARIN! Congrats Karin! Could you please email me your postal address so I can get those goodies out to ya?! You've got 5 days before I pick another winner!!!

To everyone, thanks so much for taking part! I promise that although I didn't find time to comment on every one, I did sneak a peek at all your first creations! You were all such a talented bunch from the start (either that, or you cheated LOL!)

Before I leave here's just a little card made for our current challenge on our PTI Blog:

The idea is to spring clean your crafty stash and use something that you sooooooo needed at the time but you actually have hardly used at all! Can you tell my items were Eyelets, Gromlets, A Crop-a-Dile II and Sparkly Thread?

Again this card was inspired that awesomely talented stamper, Maile Belles with this card!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Daily Designs Sentiments
Ink: Memento Black
Card: Stamper's Select White/Kraft/Valentine DP
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Concentric Hearts Die/Crop-A-Dile II/Eyelets/Large Gromlet/DMC Jewel Thread/Lil' Clippie/Fine Black Pen/3D Foam Pads

Obviously we'd love it if you could play along - everyone needs to create a bit more crafting stash room and justify a crafty purchase they're yet to use! C'mon, 'fess up who else owns a million eyelets and has only used about 10?! LOL!

Today I got a lovely stash of new PTI goodies to play with and I'm itching to ink up my new sets tonight, but before that I have to paint a HUGE (and I mean HUGE!) drawing of Thumper from Bambi! We're raising money for charity at work and my task is to make Pin the Tail on the Easter Bunny - I swear I'm gonna have nightmares about this Thumper, it's about as big as me! Now then, just gotta work out how much paint this is gonna take....maybe I'll have to save getting inky for now and just get painty instead ;D

Catch ya later!

Aimes

x

Celebrating my Blog Anniversary!

********BLOG CANDY ENDED********
********WINNER IS KARIN!********

Hey!

Well today (what's left of it!) is my Blog Anniversary! A year ago today I posted my first post...ahh it seems so long ago!

In order to celebrate I've got some calorie-free blog candy on offer for y'all:

This candy contains:

1xBasic Grey Lime Rickey 6x6 pad
1x Basic Grey Lime Rickey Brads
1x Hero Arts Wood-mounted Stamp - CardArt Write-in
3 x Papermania Gum Bound Border Packs 2" x 12" (Olivine Essence, Raspberry Champagne and Venetian Skies containing 50 sheets each)
1 x Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Traffic Jam
2 x Packs of Die-cut Sentiments
1 x Basic Grey Alpha Series Stamps - Design 2 (Easter)
1 x Imaginisce Snag'em Stamps - Tree
1 x American Crafts Patterned Chipboard Pack -Clubhouse
1 x American Crafts Mini-mark Book of Rub-On Transfers (Kids Book Two)

In order to qualify for a chance to win these goodies, I want you to share with me your first creation. I was looking back (almost cringing) at my first creations and found it to be quite an eye-opener! It's amazing to see the creative journey you've taken. If you haven't got a blog don't worry - you can use your online gallery instead and if you're new to bloggin' then welcome and please still share with us all!

To start you off, here are mine (Brace yourselves - Eeek!):


Here are my Blog Candy deets:

• Mister Linky will end at Midnight GMT, Sunday 7th March and I'll use Random.org to randomly select a winner the following day.

• This is candy is open worldwide!

• To enter, use Mister Linky below with a link to the actual post of your first creation either from your blog or online gallery.
  

• Obviously I'd love it if you could spread the word about the my blog candy and became a follower but it's not mandatory...I don't want to force you to stick around but keep a tab on me to find out if you've won!
  

• The winner will have 5 days to contact me (a_wanford@hotmail.com) with their address otherwise I'll select another winner.

I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your wonderful support and comments, I really do appreciate them more than you could imagine. I can't believe how fab this community is and the amount of wonderful bloggin' buddies that I've made! I'd also like to especially thank one gal who supported me from the start and that's Kate. She's the gal who persuaded me to start a blog and has since become my bloggin partner in crime on our PTI Blog and a fabulous friend too! If you dare peek back to my first post, she was my first commenter - supporting me from the start. BIG HUGS to ya hun - *MWAH*!

Enough babbling from me - now share that first creation!

Damask Delights...

Hey!

Hope you've all had a good weekend! I've been busy making the most of the glorious sunshine we've had here today, but that's not to say I haven't found a spot of time to get inky!

I decided to play along with Becky's Compose A Card Challenge #6. I like how you get an accurate recipe of ingredients and then just see where it takes ya:

I loved the idea of embossing with white ep on soft stone cardstock, it's so subtle but so pretty too.I was nearly done with this card but felt it needed something else...I dared to ink up a big Damask Design and stamp over my embossed panel (with my breath held tight LOL!) I'm not sure if I like it, but it provides more of a focal point anyways! Oh and I distressed the edges a bit with Enchanted Evening ink too - I think I must be on a distressing kick at the mo!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Damask Designs
Ink: Versamark/Enchanted Evening
Card: Enchanted Evening/Soft Stone/Stamper's Select White
Accessories: Enchanted Evening Satin Ribbon/Enchanted Evening Vintage Button/Martha Stewart Punch/White Detail EP/White Gel Pen

Just a quick post tonight, it's late and I need to sleep! So wish I could watch the Oscars tonight but I'd be a walking zombie for work tomorrow if I did, darn that time difference!

Thanks soooooo much for stopping by! Be sure to stop by soon when I draw a winner for my Blog Candy and we also have a new challenge on our PTI blog!

Catch ya later!
Aimes
x

A Shameless CASE!

Hey!

Happy Wednesday! Oh the weekend is edging ever closer....;D

I'm going to confess that today's card is a shameless CASE of Maile Belles...I really wanted to take part in the PTI Blog Hop last month (which was to pick a member of the PTI DT and put your own stamp (pun intended LOL!) on one of their creations) but time was against me. So this is a very late entry for the hop. Well, better late than never eh?

(Apologies for the poor lighting!) My card was inspired by this card; I just used a different stamp set! It's obviously not in the league of the original creation but it was fun to just stamp away :D


Card Recipe
(All PTI Supplies)
Stamps: Friends 'til the End
Ink: Summer Sunrise/Raspberry Fizz
Cardstock: Vintage Cream/Raspberry Fizz
Accessories: Raspberry Fizz Grosgrain Ribbon/Pink Gems/Decorative Scissors/3D Foam Pads

My shameless CASE was also made for a new kinda challenge set by Lisa Johnson (one of my fave of the PTI DT, though I admire them all of course!) entitled Poppy Seed Challenge. You just gotta plant these 3 poppy seeds in your creation:

Easy, peasy, right?! Well I think I've planted at least one seed of each so I'll leave this card to bloom!

OK that's all from me today, but I'd like to direct you to someone else who took the same card as inspiration and really put their own spin on it; Taheerah produced a gorgeous card that incorporates both this card and another of Maile's that really rocked! Go check it out!

Thanks so much for visiting! I really appreciate it!

Catch ya later!
Aimes
x

Brothers: rough around the edges!

Hey!

Happy Monday! Well I'm still recovering from the most AMAZING game of ice-hockey last night - Canada v. USA. I'm only glad that I was pretty much on the fence with who won (edging ever-so-slightly towards the Canadians ;D)! To all of my Canadian readers, congrats not only on the ice hockey but on hosting an amazing Winter Olympics too! It's scary to think that it's our turn in two years time...eek!

So onto today's card - I'm starting to hit the peak season for needing masculine cards. I've come to the conclusion that nice and simple, a bit rough around the edges are not only features of my brothers, but features that work well for their cards too LOL!


Cue a distressing tool, a little bit of twill (nothing too ribbony/satin/girlie) and voila, a card for my middle brother (I'm stuck in that middle with him!) The more I look at it, the more I want to add paper piercing around the edges of that kraft panel...too late now anyways as the card is in his possession!

Card Recipe
(All PTI Supplies)
Stamps: Star Prints/Daily Designs Sentiments
Ink: Enchanted Evening/Dark Chocolate
Cardstock: Enchanted Evening/Kraft
Accessories: Dark Chocolate Twill Ribbon/3D foam pads

Hope you all have a fab week! I hope to be back soon with some more creations - just gotta make 'em first LOL!

Ooh and I REALLY am enjoying looking at your first creations you've linked up - sorry I can't comment on all of them due to time but be assured that I'm sneaking a peek ;D

Thanks so much for stopping by to this little ol' corner of Blogland!

Catch ya later!
Aimes
x