For the guys (and the gals!)

Hey!

So I'm busy this week studying. I love to learn so I'm not complaining, and I'm especially not complaining when it's a card class! :)

Yup, the His & Hers online card class started on Monday and boy, am I  glad I signed up after only Day 1! I'm a girl with a lot of guys in my family, so I'm hoping to build up a stash of guy cards and maybe - just maybe - conquer that little bit of fear I experience when I have to create for a guy!

Day 1 was all about the simple 'Thinking of You' card. The idea is to use a technique, product, sketch etc and make it cater for both the guys and the gals.

Kristina Werner featured a great sketch that I couldn't resist and both Jennifer McGuire and guest designer, Lisa Spangler featured the same products for their cards. Jennifer also featured an awesome technique that I hope to use later on...*wink*

So armed with a sketch and a stamp that I wanted to use on both cards, I got busy.

The card at the top is my guy card (I hope you can tell it's a guy card) and this card below is my gal card:

Now I thought I'd be struggling with the guy card, but it was actually the gal card that had me scratching my head and walking away for cups of tea! What can I say? The course must be conquering that fear of mine already - ha!

As always, thank you so much for stopping by this little corner of Blogland. Hoping to be back soon with some more guy cards (and gal cards of course!)







Products Used

InLinkz.com

Dancing Butterflies...

Hey!

So, are you watching it? The Olympics? I know not that everyone is a fan (including my guy), but I can safely say that the majority of my 'me' time this holiday has been spent watching a variety of events. I'm an Olympic Junkie - I can't help it! :)

Seeing as I've found a spare moment in-between events, I thought I'd better update my blogeroo with a card:

This card is for our current challenge (that actually started last week! I'm laste sharing this card on here!) on A Passion for Papertrey. We want you to be inspired by summer and see where inspiration takes you! For me, it took me to butterflies. Admittedly you don't see many purple butterflies around, but this card was created with a recipient in mind who loves both butterflies and purple :)

We hope you can join in the fun with us. Maybe you can squeeze in an inky session in-between the Olympics and making the most of the sunshine like me? *wink*

Right - back to some essential Olympic viewing!

Catch ya later!

Card Deets
{Happy Birthday}
Stamps: Frame-It (Waltzingmouse Stamps)/Fancy Flourishes (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: London Fog, Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: White, Royal Velvet (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Butterfly Punch (Martha Stewart)/Border Punch (Fiskars)/Gems (Stash!)/Cuttlebug Distressed Wood Embossing Folder (Provocraft)

Inspired by mittens..!

Hey!

Happy Weekend, Peeps! :)

I'm sending you all super warm, winter wishes today:

OK so it's been a kinda mild winter so far, but the temperature has just started to dip a little round here and it only needs to drop a degree for the perfect excuse to showcase wear my awesome, warm, snugly mittens (celebrating winter in style thanks to a certain Diva *wink*)

Here are those fabulous mittens in question:

Piccy taken a while back when I first got my inky mitts on those babies. I think I need an updated photo!

This card was sent to my buddy, Moe (or Diva, as I like to call her with reference to the fact that she's one awesome Verve Diva!) to celebrate Christmas and winter. After all, it was Moe who sent me these gorgeous mittens all the way from Canada in the first place. I was totally inspired to recreate these actual mittens that I have in my inky possession by simply using an ancient mittens die, some twine and a sweet maple leaf stamp.

I'm also entering this card into the Paper Crafts Connection January Gallery Challenge which is to create winter themed projects to beat the winter blues. I'm pretty sure these babies (the mittens!) will beat any winter blues for myself :)

Wishing you all a super (and toasty warm!) weekend! Ooh and thank you for all the well wishes regarding my guy's broken toe - the good news is that he's walking about better now; is it too soon to ask him to do all the chores yet?!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Catch ya later!








Card Deets
{Warm Winter Wishes}
Stamps: Sentiment from Stocking Prints (Papertrey Ink)/Maple Leaf from Teeny Trees (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)/Fresh Snow (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, White (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Baker's Twine (Papertrey Ink)/Mittens Die (Sizzix)/Cuttlebug

Love You (Paper Clip!)

Hey!

Happy Tuesday! Is it really only Tuesday? It's my first full week back at work and it's like I've never been away: students stressing over exams, work that needs to be marked and more lessons that need to be planned. It's business as usual :)

It's also business as usual on A Passion for Papertrey as we've kicked off another year of challenges. For our new challenge we're looking forward to the next big occasion in the calendar for us card-makers: St Valentine's Day.

Never too early to create something for a loved one, right?

This design was totally inspired by some cool, heart-shaped paper clips I've been hoarding. I'm thinking that this card would be sweet to tuck into my guy's lunch sometime soon...after all, I don't need a dedicated day of the year to tell him how much he means to me (altogether now, awwwww!)

So why not play along with us? We'd love to see your own takes on Valentine's creations and share the inspiration :)

Right then, back to the book marking (it's my New Year's Resolution to keep on top of it all! So far, so good!)

Catch ya later!







Card Deets
{Love You}
Stamps: Wonderful Words Additions, Around and About Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:Tuxedo Black (Memento)/Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: White, True Black (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Linen and Canvas Impression Plate (Papertrey Ink)/Cuttlebug, Olivia Alphabet Dies (Provocraft)/Novelty Paper Clip and Gem (Stash!)

Maple leaves (and turkey!)....

Hey!

Well it's a soggy Sunday afternoon here in Sheffield; it really feels like we're in the midst of autumn now (although it's my fave season I wish we could have it without the soggy days!)

The one thing I adore about autumn are the colours. Speaking of which, I have a li'l card which sums this up nicely:

This card is also dedicated to any Canadian peeps who'll be celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow! Enjoy your holiday and the scrummy food that usually accompanies it *wink* It was totally worth sacrificing so many buttons for such an occasion methinks :)

Well looking outside my window it looks like I'll be spending the rest of this soggy Sunday at my desk...I guess the rainy days do have a positive element to 'em after-all!

Thanks so much for stopping by and if you're celebrating Thanksgiving, do it in style!

Catch ya later!







Card Deets
{Happy Thanksgiving}
Stamps: Frame It, Teeny Trees (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Ink: Rich Cocoa (Memento)/Scarlet Jewel, Orange Zest (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate, Vintage Cream, Terracotta Tile (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Buttons, Linen and Canvas Impression Plate (Papertrey Ink)/Cuttlebug (Provocraft)/Apron Lace Border Punch (Fiskars)

Missing: Party Invite!

Hey!

Happy Tuesday! (It's pretty late over here but it's still Tuesday!) hope you all had a super duper weekend! Ours was pretty fabulous filled with some fun memories to treasure from a fantastic wedding we attended down in Devon (yup - that's one fun road-trip to endure from Sheffield! Good job I can read whilst travelling and can even read a map when needed after taking the wrong turn on the motorway *wink*)

After such fun, I'm now playing catch-up on all the things I normally do at the weekend including catching up in Blogland and also finding time for an inky session. But seeing as we're already on Tuesday (nearly Wednesday!) I figured I could cheat a li'l and share a project with you that you'll find in the August 2011 issue of CARDS:

***Click picture for a larger version where you can read the text***

This project was yet another naughty li'l one that decided to dictate its own destination once it was in the post - I wonder if some random, confused stranger ended up with the original party invite - ha!

The actual project photographed is another one I had to create during the chaos of moving house. I actually started to debate whether it was worth the effort of rooting through all those boxes again trying to find my supplies and working on the world's smallest workspace to create it again followed by sitting with everything crossed that it would not only reach it's correct destination, but would reach it on an extremely tight deadline when posting from the other side of the pond...

....but, now I see it in print it was definitely worth the effort :) Thanks so much to CARDS magazine for not only publishing my work but for being super understanding when yet another one of my projects was naughty in the post!

That's all from me for now - this gal's got a lot of catching up to do and not only on Google Reader but in her crafting corner studio too :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Catch ya later!







Invite Deets
{it's my party!}
Stamps: Damask Designs, Birthday Bash Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)/Sentiment from Frame-It (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Ocean Tides (Papertrey Ink)/Versamark/Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate, Ocean Tides, Aqua Mist, Raspberry Fizz, Vellum (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (Provocraft)/Raspberry Fizz Grosgrain Ribbon, Tag Sale #1 Die, Limitless Layers 1 3/4" Collection Dies, Medium Scallop Border Die(Papertrey Ink)

Hip to be square...

Hey!

Happy Tuesday! I'm back into the swing of things at work now; it feels like I've never been away (but not in a bad way as I'm fortunate enough to work alongside some fabby and very funny colleagues!)

I'm posting today to show that square doesn't have to be geeky...(though I admit that I'm a fan of geek chic!)...but square can be elegant and understated as well as a graphic and cool with my approach to The Square Sketch Challenge over on Moxie Fab World.

Here's the sketch:Here's my first take:

You just never know when you may need a sympathy card so I like to whip 'em out when I don't need to make 'em as I always feel too much pressure if I have to make one on demand (fingers crossed that it'll be a long time until I need one) Twine didn't suit the style of the card so I decorated my button with bling instead.

My final take involves a spot of doodling :)

I'm on a bit of a fix with merging sentiments with images - I like they way they can inter-lock and let the design flow nicely. Speaking of which, this card continues on the inside too:

It's rare that I take the time to decorate inside a card too - I really should take the time to do it more but once I finish the front of a card, my mind is already wandering to the next project I have!

That's all from me today! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Catch ya later!







Card Deets
{With Sympathy}
Stamps: Dainty Doilies 2 Small (Waltzingmouse Stamps)/Round and Round (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White (Papertrey ink)/Grey (Craft Supply)
Ink: London Fog (Memento)/Versamark
Accessories: Papertrey Ink (Button, Canvas and Linen Impression Plate)/Zva (Bling)/Cuttlebug

{In my heart...}
Stamps: Wonderful Word Additions (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: True Black, Stamper's Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Basic White 6x6 Collection (Basic Grey)
Accessories: Promarker (Red)/Papertrey Ink (Wonderful Words Die)/Cuttlebug

Ending the holidays with a Play Date...

Hey!

Well today marks the last day of my sweet summer holidays :( I find it kinda bittersweet - I enjoy the idea of meeting up again with the fabby team I work with, but these six weeks have been a blast: I've never squeezed in so much inky time before and I just know that my stamps are calling me to stay! If they had eyes, they'd be big puppy dog eyes that I couldn't resist....

But let's not get all down in the dumps. I'll still have time to get inked up during term time but I'll just have to be more organised with my time - ha!

The end of the summer hols here signal not only heading back to school, but the wedding anniversaries of mine and my guy's parents. Hard to believe that my folks have been married for over 40 years!

So two anniversary cards needed whipping up and I decided to make two identical cards. Not something I'd normally do, but it saved on time and I'll confess that I really loved how quickly this design came together from simply looking at the current Play Date Cafe Challenge:


Well this colour combo just screamed out to be used for a CAS anniversary card!

Super CAS and I'm unashamed to admit that it makes my own heart skip a little beat y'know :)

I decided on layering the heart on top of the sentiment seeing as I wanted a portrait orientation to the card. It's easy to do: simply stamp your sentiment first, layer a piece of acetate over it, place the heart where you plan to adhere it and stamp the sentiment again (the joy of clear stamps means you can see exactly where to stamp for this!) Notice that I got my impression plate the right way around for this card *wink*

And seeing as I've made this card - it seems to fit nicely into the current CAS-ual Fridays challenge.
The book that could inspire a card like this for me would have to be Romeo and Juliet. Yes, I know it's a play but we read it as a book at school :) Love totally dictates the actions of the main characters and love commands all the attention on my CAS card with that heart *wink*

Right so that's the anniversaries catered for - I now need to go pack my school bag for tomorrow (I swear I took this career path because it meant I never had to feel like I'd grown up! Do you remember having to pack your school bag the dreaded Sunday night before Monday?) . Here's hoping that I'm eased back into the routine gently with no students present tomorrow; the real fun starts when the whole school returns on Wednesday *grin*

Thank so much for stopping by and visiting me!

Catch ya later!

Card Deets
{Anniversary Wishes}
Stamps: Frame It (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Concentric Hearts Die (Provocraft)/Linen and Canvas Impression Plate (Papertrey Ink)/Bling (Zva)

Flying by...

Hey!

I'm flying by today with a li'l card for your eyes only:

See what I did there? 'flying by' ....tee hee! :)

This card is for our shiny new challenge on A Passion for Papertrey! If you've got PTI supplies then you've got a hard time making excuses not to play along as for this challenge we want to see you create anything! It doesn't have to stop at cards either; gift tags, boxes, scrapbooking, you name it!

Right, this is a super quickie post - I'm flying off now to grab some lunch :)

Catch ya later!

Card Deets
{You make my heart Sing}
Stamps: Bird Watching (Papertrey Ink)/Hearts (Amuse Stamps)
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Berry Sorbet (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Kraft base (craft supply)/Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Chompy! (Corner Chomper - We R Memory Keepers)/Victorian Lace Border Die (Papertrey Ink)/Cuttlebug

All good things must come to an end...

Hey!

Happy Monday, peeps! I hope you all had a fabby weekend! Mine was spent creating chaos in my crafting corner studio for another round of.....


Yup! Did you hear me screaming on Friday when I found out the amazing news that I'd made the final of Gallery Idol?! Well I was screaming, jumping up and down and dare I admit it? I even did a li'l dance (I was alone at home when I found out so no-one saw me!) Why am I here? Well it's because of you wonderful people who voted for me! Thank you SO MUCH! I am honestly at a loss for words for just how overwhelmed and thankful I am; I want to come and thank you all in person ♥

For this final round we were given just 3 days to come up with 3 party-themed projects. My first thought was, "Phew! It's not more fabric!" LOL!

I wanted to come up with a solid theme and purpose to my party (that's three quarters of the design process IMHO!) I decided to use a purpose for an actual party we're hoping to have soon: a leaving party for my friend and colleague, Sarah.

Picture the scene: it's a beautiful day, we're enjoying drinks outdoors in the garden surrounded by the lovely Derbyshire countryside - bliss!

Keeping this in mind, I adopted a rustic/countryside/farmhouse kinda colour scheme (I often drool over a farmhouse kitchen just down the road from me with this colour scheme - it's gorgeous!) and used a butterfly as my motif - not only in keeping with the outdoors/countryside feel - but as a metaphor for Sarah leaving: she's spreading her wings and flying on to new adventures (and I'll miss her terribly!)

With all that figured out - here's the three projects I created:

Project One - Invitation
Well it wouldn't be a party without guests, right?!

This invite has a removable tag with all the details of the party on. The pocket for the tag is simply created by using super sticky tape on all edges except the top edge of my card front.

But it doesn't stop here; once you open the invite, you'll notice that I've included an RSVP too. This allows the recipient to easily RSVP in style :)

And that's not all! Just as a finishing touch, I adhered a magnetic strip to the back of the invite tag. I know a lot of people use their fridges as pinboards and if you do, at least you won't have to find a spare magnet to 'pin' this invite to it!

Project Two - Drink in Style!
The champagne will be flowing at the party (I'm quite partial to an elderflower champagne y'know *yummy!*) so I went ahead and stamped directly on to a champagne glass.

Yes. It took me more attempts than I can remember to get the gist of this, but I'll spare you stress of going through it yourself and give you some pointers:

• I used white Staz-On ink (it gives a nice frosted effect) but from then on gently handwash/rinse the glasses for future use!
  

• Ink your stamp up then stamp on scrap paper a couple of times before attempting to stamp directly on to the glass. Too much ink will make your stamp slip and slide uncontrollably on your glass resulting in a white splodge!

• Gently place the glass at one edge of the stamp and roll it across the stamp ensuring the stamp follows the curve of the glass.
  

• If you end up with a splodge - simply wipe away with a wet-wipe straight away, dry with kitchen towel and start again. You don't need to find a new glass!

In addition to the stamped glass I also created a drink charm as well as a butterfly decoration for the rim of the glass so you can drink in style and know which glass is yours!

The twine on the charm continues the rustic theme :)

This glass looks much more impressive IRL - I've come to learn that photographing glass can be a nightmare!

Project Three - Party Favour
Now I can't have guests leaving empty handed so I created a sweet little party favour container which can be filled with a nice treat.

I loved the idea of using a clothes-peg as my fastening; I wanted to keep that rustic/country feel and thought this was perfect. I also stamped my sentiment on the peg - I love that sentiment; it seems so fitting for a party favour!

So there you have it! My leaving party ensemble:

I hope you can come! If my invite doesn't make it to you in time, you can always RSVP by checking out my project on Gallery Idol and considering voting for it, or simply leaving a comment *wink*

Sadly, this is the final round of the competition and I'm gonna miss all this excitement every week (I won't miss the stress and beads of sweat of it btw!) so whatever the result, this is the end. I feel like a total winner making it to the final and having so many of you being there cheering me on; so I urge you to go and check out all of the entries and vote for your favourite!

I think that's enough babbling for one Monday! I'm off to catch up on all the household chores I put to one side during these few weeks of the competition - there's a lot to do. I may be some time....!

Catch ya later!






Party Ensemble Deets
{You're Invited}
Stamps: 'You're Invited' - Frame It (Waltzingmouse Stamps)/'To','Date' - Tiny Tags, Damask Designs, Butterfly - Butterfly Dreams, Background Basics: Text Style (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Vintage Cream, Spring Rain (Papertrey Ink) Rich Cocoa (Memento Ink) Versamark
Cardstock: Vintage Cream, Spring Rain, Fine Linen, Kraft (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Cream Button, Cream Button Twine, Linen and Canvas Impression Plate, Tag Die, Fine Linen Grosgrain Ribbon (Papertrey Ink)/ Butterfly Punch (Tonic)/Cuttlebug/Circle Nestability/Alphabet Transfers (Doodlebug)

{Drink in Style}
Stamps: Damask Designs, Tiny Tags (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Spring Rain (Papertrey Ink)/ Versamark/Opaque White (Staz-On)
Cardstock: Vintage Cream, Spring Rain, Fine Linen (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Butterfly Punches (Tonic & Martha Stewart)/Tiny Tags Die, Ribbon Twine (Papertrey Ink)/Cuttlebug/ Alphabet Transfers (Doodlebug)

{Party Favour}
Stamps: Damask Designs, Background Basics: Text Style (Papertrey Ink)/'Hope it Tickles' - Frame It (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Ink: Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink)/Tuxedo Black (Memento)/Versamark
Cardstock: Vintage Cream, Spring Rain, Fine Linen (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Butterfly Punch (Tonic)/Canvas and Linen Impression Plate, Cream Vintage Button, Twine (Papertrey Ink)/Cuttlebug/Clothes-peg (own supply!)