Another fab Blog Girl Day!

Today saw our second "Blog Girl Day" at Sir Stampalot. We had a great time, great company , had a good natter, a yummy lunch, and even made some cards! Just wanted to say a huge thank you to Brenda and Chris for organising the day and designing some gorgeous projects for us to make. Also to Janice and Andy for hosting us, and keeping the shop open for the necessary retail therapy afterwards!

Here's what we made (my versions of Brenda's and Chris's designs). The first two cards were designed by Chris. I admired her pink and bling bauble card when I first saw it on her blog, so I was delighted that she showed us how to make it today. And I love the little step card with the tipsy Christmas trees!

Brenda's creations were equally gorgeous, and both shiny, so unfortunately they haven't photographed very well. The first one uses layers of stamping over a Distress Ink and Glimmer Mist background. The second was made on acetate, with leaves stamped on top using black Staz-on ink, and the reverse coloured with alcohol inks. It was then backed with text torn from a book and crumpled tin foil. The effect of the foil is amazing, and the photo really does not do it justice.

The book chosen for the text caused some hilarity, being a rather seedy crime novel! We had to be very selective about which pages we used! But the end result was very effective. I was proud of the fact that I managed to complete all four cards, unlike the previous time when I didn't actually get any finished on the day.

Anyway, thanks again, everyone, for a really lovely day. Looking forward to the next one!

Starting them young, and Allsorts Challenge week 40

Well, I had a great week up north, albeit exhausting! Needless to say, I didn't get any cards made, though we did have time for a bit of crafting. My four year old grandson had two birthday parties to attend while I was there (his social life is far more hectic than mine!) and he wanted to make cards for his friends. He decided to do some stamping, and here's what he made.

It was all his own design. He chose the inks and stamps (Clarity Stamp, Stampscapes, and Non Sequitur) and just got on with it. All I did was cut it out and mat it for him. I thought it wasn't bad for a 4 year old. He then decided he liked it too much to give it away! So he made a couple of other cards for his friends. 

I'm still trying to catch up after my week away, so apologies if I haven't managed to get round to everyone's blogs. I feel as though I've been out of circulation for ages. However, I did get a card made for this week's Allsorts challenge, whch is to incorporate a tag, ticket or label in the design.

I went for a vintage look. The background paper is old stash (Anna Griffin I think), overstamped with a Crafty Individuals text. I also used a Martha Stewart punch and Prima flowers. The flower centres are made with micro beads (very old stash!). The photo is of my maternal grandma. I was looking for something in my sewing box the other day and came across my thread cutter, the sort you are allowed to take on aeroplanes. I'd forgotten I had it. It's a circular blade set in a case which exposes parts of the blade, similar to this by Tim Holtz. I don't do so much sewing these days, and even less flying, so I thought my thread cutter would come in handy for distressing paper, and as you can see, it worked really well. And it's much prettier than Tim's!

Post-Christmas blues (& sneezes!)

Well, after a relaxed & enjoyable Christmas up in Dumfriesshire, I've been stuck inside for the past three days with the worst cold I've had in years. Must be a Scottish bug. After 25 years working in Nottinghamshire schools I reckon I've built up immunity to most of those down here.

Anyway, at least I've managed to use the time productively and made a nature themed calendar. I made an A-frame out of thickish card for the base and decorated the pages with stamps from various companies, mainly Crafty Individuals and Graphicus. Most of the Graphicus stamps are from their new "Nature Table" and "Autumn Hedgerow" themeplates, which are simply gorgeous. The month names and numbers were a set from Hampton Art's Creative Cafe collection. I then used my Bind-It-All to assemble the calendar.