Flower Power!

Hey!

Well it's been a while since I last posted...let's just say that I got into the full swing of my Birthday celebrations and combined them with a fabulous Hen weekend full of giggles and I'm still recovering from it all LOL!

But let's not think about last weekend, how about this weekend?! Yup, it's nearly here, peeps..it's Friday Eve....it's time for....


Woo hoo! Another fabulous CASE study, another fabulous creation from our muse, Jill Foster and yet another muse I'll be sad to see leave us after this week :(

Don't be too sad though, as Jill's leaving us in style with this gorgeous creation up for CASEing:

You can check out the original post of this card here

Ooh just look at how those colours 'pop' against that beautiful, clean, crisp white backdrop. That's what I took for my own CASE of this beauty:

Tip: When playing with double-sided patterned paper, use the reverse side as a guaranteed coordinating piece of DP for your project!

Oh yeah - check me out; using up a slither of patterned paper from my stash *grin* This design is perfect for de-hoarding some of that paper that I've been stroking and not daring to administer the scissors to. I added a bit of 'oomph' to my panel of DP with a Copic Spica Pen (Clear) and some buttons - it looked kinda plain without 'em.

So fancy de-hoarding some of your own DP? Fancy just playing along with us even if you wanna keep your inky mitts on your DP stash? Then you know what to do: join us!

However, before you do, feast your eyes on the fireball of talent that is the rest of the CASE study DT!

Iwona Palamountain (Chupa)
Andrea Ewen
Cristina Kowalczyk
Jean Martin
Julie Smith
Lenet Mos
Melyssa Connolly
Sue Kohler
Teneale Williams
Jill Foster (June's Muse)

Right, that's all from me for now. I'd say I've gotta dash, but it's a pretty quiet day for me at work today: a lot of our teachers are on strike so most students have been told to stay at home. I'm probably gonna have to face my dreaded filing cabinet for a job to do - it'll take at least a day to try and make it look like it's in some organised manner *wink*

Have a super duper weekend and thanks so much for stopping by here!

Catch ya later!







Card Deets
{happy Birthday}
Stamps: Sentiment from Frame It (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Morning Glory - Sunday Market Collection (My Little Shoebox)
Accessories: Copic Spica Pen (Clear)/Vintage buttons (Papertrey Ink)/Cuttlebug/Embossing Folder (Provocraft)

Me, Myself and Pigster!

Hey!

Well what a lovely bunch of peeps you are! Thank you so much for your wonderful birthday messages - they made my day all the more extra special! I had a fab birthday and will share what I got up to in a moment...

...but before that, it's Friday-Eve and we've got a new CASE study to play along with:

Jill is proving to be a fabulous muse for us this month: She's reunited me with some inky techniques that I'd long forgotten about so I'm definitely thankful for her nudging me in the direction of having plain inky fun when it comes to stamping!

Here's her fabulous creation up for CASEing this week:

You can check out the original post of this creation here

So what did I CASE? Well if I show you the card, then I'm hoping you can tell:

Sunshine was definitely the starting point on this card with my own soft spot for a graphic kinda style with my own scene. I had fun layering that stamp in black and two shades of purple (hard to tell on my pic but there's more depth to it IRL!) and I decided to carry on the scene onto my card base by clear embossing those twines/vines.

You know what I'm gonna say, don't ya? Yup! Come and join in the fun with us! But before you dash to your inky supplies, be sure to check out what the rest of the CASE study DT came up with - you'll have a mojo busting to ink once you've visited 'em :D

Iwona Palamountain (Chupa)
Andrea Ewen
Cristina Kowalczyk
Jean Martin
Julie Smith
Lenet Mos
Melyssa Connolly
Sue Kohler
Teneale Williams
Jill Foster (June's Muse)

Finally, before I leave ya, here's what I got up to on my Birthday:



Who's my new friend you ask? Well my new companion (aka Pigster) was part of a sweet birthday card from my friend who complained along with a few other friends that I'm the hardest gal to buy a card for. So faced with such a tough task, she went down the distract-her-with-a-free-toy route.

Needless to say it worked a treat...


...he was fabulous company for my drive home from work....


...he even insisted on taking the wheel!....


...the luxury of having a designated driver, eh?! :)

Don't worry, I wasn't actually letting Pigster take full control of the car or driving whilst taking pics on my phone! Now what was that saying I was going on about on my birthday about acting my shoe size....? Ha!

Right, I'm off for now. I've got a fun hen weekend to attend in Liverpool where we get to have a 1950s make-over, cheesecake-style photo shoot and a Jive dancing lesson - can't wait! Better get my dancing shoes on :D

Have a super duper weekend and I'll hope to catch up with you soon!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Catch ya later!







Card Deets

{Thank You For Being So Thoughtful}
Stamps: Delicate Branches (Inkadinkado)/Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)/Shades of purple (Whisper Dye Ink)/Versamark
Cardstock: Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Basic White 6x6 Collection (Basic Grey)
Accessories: Promarkers/Vintage Button (Papertrey Ink)/Detail Clear EP (Stampendous)

Kickin' off summer with a happy day...

Hey!

Happy Tuesday! Happy Mid-Summer's Day! Happy Summer Solstice! Happy Wimbledon!

Oh and Happy Birthday!

To yours truly :)

Entering my last year of my twenties....should I celebrate with mature, style and decorum?

Photo: Angel Food Bakery

Or face the fact that I'll always be trying to cram the correct number of candles on my cake, like a kid, no matter what age I am?

Photo: iPhone Wallpapers

Ha! Well one thing's for sure, I'm by no means worried about turning 29. I'm young at heart and that's what counts, right? I've been noted for acting closer to my shoe size than my actual age; which brings me nicely to this card I can share with you today:

I do have size 4 feet but this card was for an actual 4 year old - my niece Ruby. She celebrated her special day a few weeks ago.

Huge dollops of Glossy Accents on that li'l critter - trust me, he's super shiny IRL! You can only see his shiny nose but he's glossy all-over because, "he's worth it!" *wink*! I questioned whether it was worth the patience of waiting for it to dry for Ruby's birthday: she opened the card, shook it to see if any money came out and when nothing came out, proceeded to the next card and present...

...I hope I can be more discreet with my own card and presents today...ha!

Right then, it's the longest day of the year (well in the Northern Hemisphere, anyways!) so I'm off to make the most of it!

Thanks so much for stopping by on my special day!

Catch ya later!






Card Deets
{4 Today}
Stamps: None!
Ink: None!
Cardstock: Berry Sorbet (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Lil Critter Collection (My Little Shoebox)
Accessories: Alphabet Rub-ons (Doodlebug Design Inc)/Gem (Zva)/Promarkers

Quick and Easy!

Hey!

Happy Saturday! Hope you're all having a super duper weekend so far... We're doing the rounds of visiting our dads to celebrate Fathers' Day so they'll be lots of yummy food and family (and maybe, just maybe I'll get to collect some gifts for my own special day on Tuesday *wink wink*)

I thought I had until Sunday to make my usual cards for our dads this year. However, my guy had suddenly decided late on Wednesday night that he needed a card to post the NEXT DAY! So it's late, I'm tired, my mojo has gone to bed - what's a gal to do?

Well use a pre-patterned card blank, a pre cut-star, some felt letters and a couple of stamp sets already out on my desk for one super duper quick and easy card:

Sorry for the poor pic - this was taken very late at night by one inky gal who needed to be up early for work the next day!

I'm kinda happy with the result. Nothing like a tight deadline to wake your mojo up a little! The 'you rock' sentiment was a partially inked sentiment from Signature Greetings if you're wondering. I love getting more inky goodness out of my sentiment stamps :)

So if you've left it to the last minute to make a Fathers' Day card, there's still hope!

Before I dash, I got some happy, inky news that this card was selected for What's Hot over on the Embellish Text Challenge. Thanks so much to the super talented designers over at Embellish for picking my card!

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit!

Catch ya later!






Card Deets
{Dad, you rock!}
Stamps: Star Prints, Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Rich Cocoa (Memento)
Cardstock: Green Argyle Patterned Card Blank (A Muse) Kraft (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Brown Felt Thickers (American Crafts)/Star Punch (SU!)

Missing: my mojo!

Hey!

Finally! Friday Eve is upon us - hooray! It's been one thing after another this week; I'll be so happy when I can grab a few moments to actually stop and think!

One li'l thing I have thought about this week is our new CASE study today!


Once again, we have a fabulous card to inspire us from our lovely muse, Jill Foster:

You can check out the original post of this creation here!

I love the boldness of those colours!

Now I'm gonna be straight with ya and 'fess up. My mojo has left the building; I'm not sure where it's gone, or when it'll be back but all I've wanted to do this week is sleep and not ink (Someone take my temperature - quick!) As much as I tried, I just couldn't work those bold colours to give any kinda justice to Jill's creation.

So with time running out and lots of cardstock later, I realised that maybe I was over-thinking the whole CASE study this week. Putting too much pressure on myself to conform closely to the card in the spotlight. A wise girlie once told me that the whole idea of CASE study was to let your creativity flow from this starting point and see where it takes you, not to just CASE a card.

So I did just that.

Anyone who knows me that I'll happily be lead up the CAS path *wink*

BTW: The flower is stamped using a rock and roll technique inspired by the current PTI Make It Monday challenge. I promise those shades of blue have much more contrast IRL!

Still inspired by those bold colours of Jill's, but injecting just tiny amounts of 'em against a clean white background is like having my cake and eating it *grin* I hope you can tell that I've CASED the colours, part of the sentiment and the use of flowers from the original card.

Wanna know the thing I love the most about this tag? It's diddy. No, seriously it's soooooo small that I nearly lost it before getting a chance to photograph it! (I used the smallest of my Nestabilities Labels 8 to give you some idea of how small) but not only that two more things made me smile about this:

1. Did you spot the use of another eyelet? Please! Someone stop me; I've only got about a million left to use up LOL!
2. That eyelet and the twine around my ribbon have been colour coordinated using my alcohol markers. No need to buy blue twine (and eyelets although I'm pretty sure I've got some somehwere...) when you can colour white twine any colour you wish!

Now I'd advise ya to feast your eyes on the amazing creations whipped up by the rest of the CASE study DT whose mojos are buzzing!

Iwona Palamountain (Chupa)
Andrea Ewen
Cristina Kowalczyk
Jean Martin
Julie Smith
Lenet Mos
Melyssa Connolly
Sue Kohler
Teneale Williams
Jill Foster (June's Muse)

So get a good dose of inspiration and get inky with us! I'd love to see what features inspire you from Jill's card and see the creative journey you go on!

Have a super duper weekend! I think I may spend mine playing with some eyelets and seeing what I can come up with...

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Catch ya later





Tag Deets
{Hello}
Stamps: Around and About Sentiments, Friends 'til the End (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores (Papertrey Ink)/Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Fresh Snow Twill Ribbon, Rustic Cream Button Twine (Papertrey Ink)/Eyelet (We R Memory Keepers)/Gem (Hero Arts)/Promarkers (to colour twine and eyelet!)/Cuttlebug/Labels Eight (Nestabilities)

HB 2 U

Hey!

Reporting from a super sunny, super hot, Sheffield today! Not very often I can say that but today it's true! In fact, what am I doing indoors? I should be making the most of this LOL!

But before I dash outside to dine Alfresco Styleee, I'm here to share a card with you of course:

Truth be told, I'm not entirely 100% sure about this one...I kinda want to make it again but I doubt I'll find the time right now!

This card was created for our fabulous new challenge over on our PTI blog. All you have to do is pick an element (Earth, Air, Wind or Fire) and go on a creative journey with it: it's ELEMENTary! :) I hope you can tell what element I picked. Clue: colour scheme and sparkling candles!

So c'mon and join in the fun and show me how it's really done!

Oooh and before I dash out for my dinner, be sure to check out some sneak peeks of the fabulous July/August issue of Paper Crafts. Not only am I totally honoured that my li'l card is featured there today, but you can have a chance of winning it along with some other seriously fabulous cards! (I'm tempted to enter myself; I did have a soft spot for that card...I hope it goes to a good home!)

Now my dinner is really calling me...along with a G&T *wink*

Catch ya later!







Card Deets
{HB 2 U}
Stamps: Around and About Sentiments, Birthday Bash Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Pure Poppy, Melon Berry, Orange Zest, Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink)/Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: True Black, Stamper's Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Baker's Twine (Papertrey Ink)/Crystal Stickles (Ranger)/Chompy! (Corner Chomper - We R Memory Keepers)

Happy, Happy, Happy

Hey!

Happy, happy weekend! It's a soggy one here today, but the optimist in me is thinking it's the perfect excuse to stay in and get inky *grin*

I'm sharing a card today that you can find a much better picture of in Card Creations 9! If you haven't got a copy of this issue it's a must have - so much inspiration on every page!

I was so happy when this special issue arrived on my doorstep to find that I'm sharing a page with Carly Robertson! I love her style and she's a super sweet person too. It's such an honour to see my card next to hers and on the pages of an issue that's oozes fabulous cards by some of my favourite designers!

Before I go, it's my final day as a featured artist over on Inspired by... Thanks so much to Jill for inviting me over! I've had so much fun! Be sure to check it out if you can: Jill's cards are fabulous!

Right, I've gotta grab some dinner - I'm starving!

Catch ya later!






Card Deets
{happy happy happy}
Stamps: Birthday Bash Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: London Fog (Memento)/Plum Pudding (Papertrey Ink)/Versamark
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Plum Pudding (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities/Polka Dot Impression Plate, Fresh Snow Satin Ribbon (Papertrey Ink)/Gems (Zva)/Chompy! (Corner Chomper - We R Memory Keepers)/White Detail EP (Stampendous)

A double CASE...

Hey!

Happy Friday Eve! Yup, the working week is nearly over and it's been a busy one here!

We know the drill, right? Friday Eve means only one thing here:



Time for a new CASE study to get your inky mitts into!

This month's muse, Jill Foster, has had me trying out techniques that I haven't had fun with for ages. Can you guess what technique I adopted from her beautiful card this week?

Check out the original post of this card here!

Well I jumped at the chance to have a good ol' colouring session. Colouring takes me straight back to being a kid again: I used to sit with a mega colouring book, determined to colour every image on every page, not colouring over the outlines, starting with page one (I think that was the start of my OCD tendencies right there - ha!) A few things have changed since then though: I'm now using grown-up felt tips and colour sat at a desk rather than sprawled across the floor (Believe me, I wanted to colour lay on the floor, but didn't fancy risking my pens bleeding through onto the carpet!)

Anyways, I'm digressing, what I'm trying to say is that I dug out my Promarkers and had fun. Here's the finished result:

Tip: When fussy cutting out those gorgeous fuchsias, don't pain yourself trying to cut out those delicate bits at the end of each flower (sorry, I'm no gardener - what are those bits called?!) simply chop 'em off and re-stamp them on your focal point, before sticking your beautifully cut and coloured fuchsias over the top.

I'm diggin' this new set of mine, Celebrating You, by The Craft's Meow. I never realised how versatile it was: it's proving to suit so many different styles!

As well as using markers, I'm hoping you can tell that I'm also CASEd a few other fab features of Jill's card too:

• The circular focal point
• The image overlapping the circular focal point
• The use of flowers
• The text background
• The Paper-pierced border
  
• The use of pearls (substituted for gems in my card!)

Wanna know something a bit different about this week's CASE study for myself? Well our muse, Jill is actually CASEing this card of mine today over on her blog. As her featured artist this week (still have to pinch myself over that one!) she thought it'd be fun for me to share this card with her to CASE - kinda like a double CASE I guess :D

Phew! Well if that's not enough CASEing for ya then check out the rest of the super duper CASE study DT and feast your eyes on their fabulous CASEs:

Iwona Palamountain (Chupa)
Andrea Ewen
Cristina Kowalczyk
Jean Martin
Julie Smith
Lenet Mos
Melyssa Connolly
Sue Kohler
Teneale Williams
Jill Foster (June's Muse)

Surely that's more than enough to get your mojo tickin'! I hope you can find time to join in the inky fun with us :)

If I don't catch up with you before, have a lovely weekend! What ya up to? I've got nothing at all planned apart from a double date night on Friday (a perfect end to the week IMHO) so I'm gonna make the most of the time in my crafting corner studio *wink*

Catch ya later!







Card Deets
{Celebrating You on Your Special Day}
Stamps: Celebrating You (The Craft's Meow)/Background Basics: Text Style (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: London Fog, Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Plum Pudding
Accessories: Promarkers, Pink Gems, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities,

Let's Talk...well...kinda...

Hey!

Happy Tuesday! Well it's the first week back at work since our week off, I've just about lost my voice (much to my students' amusement!) and it already feels like I've never been away from the place! I'm officially on countdown now 'til those sweet summer holidays - 32 days and counting *wink*

Fortunately I did find some inky therapy time during my week off, I just didn't get a chance to share my stuff with you here at the same time. Good news is, I can do that now :)

First on my list of crafty endeavours was to play along with the current Embellish Challenge. It's been an age since I've played along with those challenges and I'm so happy I finally found the time to play this time around:


Mmmmm, grey. I nearly love that colour as much as green (nearly, not quite though *wink*) so grey, combined with the challenge to incorporate text had me inked up and ready to play:

Tip: don't have the right coloured cardstock? Simply colour in white cardstock with an alcohol marker to get your desired colour. I don't own any gorgeous grey cardstock (Soft Stone hardly counts - it's closer to white!) so simply coloured my originally white card grey.

Yes. I've finally found a use for two out of the thousands of eyelets I have stored away. Don't tell me you didn't fall victim to the whole eyelet craze: when you needed at least 100 eyelets of every colour and every size. I've got enough to last a lifetime! I think I might even start a campaign to get 'em back in the spotlight. I don't follow trends, I start 'em - Ha!

Have to giggle at the irony of sharing this card with you today seeing as talk is the last thing I can do. Maybe it should have said, "Let's Croak!" Well, as ironic as this card is, it's still kinda fitting for today because I wanna tell you something exciting (well, exciting for me!)...

...I'm so fortunate to be this week's featured artist on 'Inspired by...' Starting today until Friday, Jill Foster will share one of my creations on her blog and produce her own creation inspired by mine - pretty cool huh?! Go check it out, if not to see some of my stuff over there, to see her fabulous creations. Past featured artists include some of my stampy idols: Dawn McVey, Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner to mention a few. How on earth did I end up in such fabulous company?! Best act casual and play it cool....who am I kidding? I'm totally psyched about it! HUGE thanks to Jill for inviting me over!

OK that's enough babbling from me today! I'll be back on Thursday with a shiny new CASE study for ya. Until then, I'll be counting down more days until the summer hols and trying to find my voice. If you find it, could you send it in this direction please? :)

Catch ya later!






Card Deets
{Let's Talk}
Stamps: Background Basics: Text Style (Papertrey Ink)/Just Saying Hi (Clear Set - Hero Arts)
Ink: London Fog, Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Ocean Tides, Soft Stone, Stamper's Select White, Vellum Cardstock (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: White Eyelets (We R Memory Keepers)/Bling (Zva)/Promarkers (Letraset)

Glimmer and Shimmer...

Hey!

Wow! Friday Eve already and I've not squeezed in half as much inky time as I'd hoped. I do have a nice reason for it though: visiting family the past couple of days on a whirlwind tour to eat cake celebrate some birthdays!

In fact today's card was created for my SIL's birthday yesterday and is also the card for this week's new CASE study.


As you know, a new month means a new muse on CASE study. Although I'm already missing our last muse, Sarah Martina Parker I'm still excited about June's muse. Y'see with this muse, I'm hoping to re-visit lots of stamping techniques that I haven't had fun with for a while....I hope you can join in too as we CASE creations from Jill Foster!

Check out Jill's beautiful card up for CASEing this week:

Check out the original post of this card ---> here <---

I was inspired by the colours and the way those embossed images totally 'pop' at ya!

Armed with my heat gun and some fabulous new stamps I received from The Craft's Meow, I got very inky and very messy: embossing powder and glimmer mist everywhere :)

When I said everywhere, I meant everywhere: my laptop, my jeans, my desk - absolutely splattered with sparkly Glimmer Mist!

Hard to believe that panel of aqua cardstock was originally a piece of white shimmer cardstock! I just got busy with some inks (The inks stay wet longer on the coated shimmer cardstock so blend pretty easily with your average sponge) and busy with the glimmer mist, then embossed those gorgeous fuchsias on top. It shimmers so much more IRL but you'll have to use your imagination to picture it....!

Wanna play along? I hope so! Our sponsor this week is The Craft's Meow. I was lucky enough to get a sneaky play with this gorgeous set, Celebrating You, before it was released.

You could be lucky enough to win it simply by playing along with us! Gotta say, the stamps are of fab quality: no need to 'prime' them, just peel, stick and stamp away!

Be sure to check out what the rest of the CASE study DT created with their fabulous stamps:

Iwona Palamountain (Chupa)
Andrea Ewen
Cristina Kowalczyk
Jean Martin
Julie Smith
Lenet Mos
Melyssa Connolly
Sue Kohler
Teneale Williams
Jill Foster (June's Muse)

I'm scooting off now: finally, today is a day where I'm not too busy: All I've got scheduled is a much over-due haircut and the rest of the day is mine! I'm hoping that I'll finally find an afternoon to indulge in some inky therapy and a spot of Blog Hoppin'. Hope you have a lovely Friday Eve too and a fun build up to the weekend :)

Catch ya later!







Card Deets
{Celebrating You}
Stamps: Celebrating You (The Craft's Meow)
Ink: Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink) Versamark/Rich Cocoa (Memento)
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, White Shimmer Cardstock (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Pine Cone Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels)/Fresh Snow Satin Ribbon, Linen Impression Plate (Papertey Ink)/Gems (Zva)/Chompy! (Corner Chomper - We R Memory Keepers)/Cuttlebug