A Crafty Tag

Thanks Paula , great tag!


1) What technique would you consider to be your "trade mark" (what do you do most?)

Hmm, probably die cuts, papers and coloured card blanks

2) Which technique(s) do you wish you could do/do better?

I wish I could do vintagey altered oldey worlde cards. When I do them they never look right. Also resist stamping with versamark, I've never successfully managed that after a lot of goes.
And doodling, one of my mates is an expert at this, you know who you are! And for those of you who don't, Lynne's doodling is fabulous! I wish I could do something even a quarter as good as that!

3) What are your 4 favourite embellishments?

Ribbon, Die Cuts, Brads, Eyelets. I think I need to get some big blooms too as they look gorgeous.

4) What are your 3 favourite gadgets?

TagAlong and Sizzix (although I really want a Big Shot but I'm waiting for a good deal)
My 99p rubber mallet, which I use for eyelet setting and paddle punches
My pc and printer

Im not really big on gadgets I suppose, I always like to find a cheap alternative if I can and save pennies or the pretty bits


5a) What do you like to do but haven't done in a while?

Stamping and chalking with versamark, its such a lovely effect.

5b) And what have you done recently & forgot how much you enjoyed?
I love stamping, and I have a lot of stamps which is embarassing as I dont use them nearly enough. I tend to use the words quite a bit, but I have so many lovely images sitting there neglected. I did some stamping yesterday though! Here's the cards I did. Stamps all by stampendous, really cute.

If you are reading this and you haven't been tagged
by

aula - then consider yourself tagged - thi

And if you're reading this...consider yourself tagged! s is real fun one :-) Thanks Paula :-)

Still playing with Milk bottles

I thought I'd have a go with doodling, so Ive combined it with the milk bottle embellies. This time for the wings, I used the textured part of the milk bottle for the dragonfly wings which you'll probably need to look up close to see. I think it works! Yummy papers from Debbie Mumm.

The SECC shopping challenge

Wowee, what a fantastic day! I'd been saving my pennies for these and being very good so it was a bit of a blowout for me. It got really busy just after lunch and I think it induced some sort of madness in us all as we got very silly which got us some strange looks. Here we are at the blonde moments stand and as you can see we're perfectly normal!


And here's the goodies I came home with!



Basic Grey Lilykate -Ive wanted this for a while
K&Co Kology Peabody -Total impulse buy once I'd seen it in the flesh. Its just beautiful and fab quality too
Blonde Moments Spring Fling and Sugar dumpling -good enough to eat
A few sheets of Basic Grey Blitzen
Assorted other papers
Christmas Vellum
A 12x12 scrapbook for a fiver!
Yummy Duo Designs UM stamp set
3 more bargain £1 stamps from the card fairy, you've gotta love their deals!
2 Brilliance dew drops in Pearlescent Crimson and Pearlescent Ivy
About 3 miles of ribbon, ok thats an exageration there...
3 new dies, ellison wand, pointy flower and a double do flower
2 mags which weren't ones I'd have bought at full price, they were £1 each, but actually theyre quite good

Not bad for a days gathering. Today I'm very tired but happy and once Ive done my 'have to' list Im going to sit down and play with my new goodies, I think I got enough so I can actually use some of it safely.

Dare 2 The Plastic Milk Bottle Embellishments

What an amazing challenge Jane set us Daring Cardmakers this week ! We could do anything we liked, easy so far, as long as it used something from or included the kitchen in some way. Eeek!

Well, I have to say at first I was stumped, but when you look past the dinner stuff and dishes there's actually a lot more than I even thought possible for cardmaking. My first attempt was with greaseproof paper, which potentially has a lot it it scrunching and distressing it, but mine just didn't work right. Then I made a right old mess having a go making shaving foam backgrounds with food colouring and ended up with coloured fingers and loads of backgrounds that I didn't use for my final card but had a lot of fun doing. I had a go at rag rolling with cling film too. So you see theres a lot more than just chores in there. Thank heavens!

This is my final card design. Papers are from Rob and Bob, gorgeous zingy colours, I love them!

Ok, it doesn't actually look like its ever seen the kitchen but it has and to prove it I'll show you how I made the embellishments!

First take an empty plastic milk bottle, then cut the flat bits out of it using scissors. Be careful not to do yourself an injury. It might be worth getting a responsible adult to help you here unless you're supposed to be old enough to know better.
Then either die cut your shapes, I used a sizzix and the original thick dies (the thin ones wont work as far as I tried) or cut them by hand, I did flowers and circles.
Then I used alcohol inks to colour the plastic, I just love these inks, if you don't have them then you probably need them!
Then I die cut all the letters I wanted from Card, I used Curlie Girlie and Block Party, both Ellison thin cuts alphas. I glued the letters w and e to the circles with glossy accents and then covered the whole circle to give a 3d effect, I glossy accented the flowers too. The letters should look something like this! Finally, I used spray glue to attach the embellies to the card and there you go! I'd love to see what you make with this technique, Im sure theres loads more packaging items that can be used in a similar way. So forget the cooking, just use your kitchen for crafting ;)

5 days to go!

Til I get to go to the SECC in Glasgow with my fabulous crafty friends and drool all over the amazing papercraft goodies they have in store for us. If theres one thing better than crafty shopping, its crafty shopping with great pals who understand the need to oooh and ahh loudly at the pretty things. I definately need more paper, Im using it, scary stuff eh! The good thing is, when you use it up, you have space for more, well in theory anyway!

Heres another LO Ive done recently to remind myself that these dark autumn night's won't last forever and spring will come again.


Papers by DCWV, title cut with Curlie Girlie and middle paper is decorated with a Purple Onion Stamp which is the definiotion of spring. Flowers courtesy of my back garden.

Aquilegia's (Aka Columbine or Grannys Bonnet) are my favourite spring flowers. Theyre like little pixie hats. I let them all self seed this year so theres going to be millions of seedlings next year. Maybe too many, but you can't have too much of a good thing in my book!

OMG How did I forget...

...to share my exciting news with you all!!! Last weekend I took part in the Cyber Crop on LCC where I did the LO's that Ive shared with you, and anyway....


drum roll....




...I won a prize! It was so unexpected and for about 15 hours I was dancing round the house like a lunatic, then of course I had to sleep (and its hard to jump around while you sleep) and since then all waking hours are spent with an inane grin on my face. It was for my retro card made of scraps (scroll down a bit and its there just a few days ago). This was on friday when we launched the dare blog too so it was just the most fabbiest day ever! It's not the first time I've won a prize for my cardmaking but it was totally out of the blue and I was just gobsmacked.

But now I need to think of a good reason for forgetting to tell you about it sooner, is being a country bumpkin good enough, things happen slower out in the sticks, or thatIve had important things to do like considering cutting up paper and stroking ribbons... Nope I'm just a bit doolally sometimes...

...But I'm still smiling :D

Happy Saturday

Well, I am overwhelmed my the fantastic positive response we have received for the fantastic Daring Cardmakers Blog. Obviously we all loved the idea and it appears you do too. Thank you all for your support, encouragement and most of all, for joining in!

I thought I would share a comissioned wedding card I was asked to do this week



The vellum is absolutely gorgeous and I found out about it through the wonderfully generous Kathy. Its by Pixie Press and is just to die for, thanks Kathy for sharing. The rose paper is from DCWV, eyelets, ribbon and flowers are from one of my fantastic local craft shops. The card itself is a beautiful irridescent cream, its hard to describe, it's not pearl but it glistens beautifully in the light. I just wish I had the photographic skills to capture it on camera. Its from a fairly new paper mill style shop called the Papeterie at a real papermill in Aberdeen, definately worth a visit if you're in the area.

I'm loving using 6x6 cards again, they just give so much more space to play with the layout.

Speaking of layouts... Im off to play!

Are you up for it?

Well today I have something exciting to blog about! I can finally reveal that Ive been working with a fantastically talented group of Crafters in a new and exciting project that will inspire you, and hopefully encourage you to take some little steps outside your safe cardmaking zone.

Here's my contribution to the first dare, on the theme of friendship. Click on the card if you want to see a bigger picture.



Fabby paper by MAMBI and the lovely textured cardstock from DCWV. I just cant get enough of their card. I love using dictionary style definitions in my work, theyre just so versatile.

You'll want to know where it is now...its here! I hope you are brave enough to rise to the dare yourself! This is a really fun idea and I do hope you'll join in. Happy Crafting!

My messy space

Ok, so youve seen my craft room tidy, now Kathy has dared me to show you my messy space... so heres my craft desk, in its full glory. I must say this is fairly average, it can get much worse. Im embarassed now!

Layout 3... Im addicted

This is me at the tender age of... well, less than a year, at Glastonbury festival. Shame I don't remember it as there were probably some classic bands there. Its the only festival I've ever been to, I must remedy that some day.

Tagged by ambition

Ive had to do quite a bit of thinking about this tag from Paula

So... my 5 biggest achievements in life so far

1. Getting through Art College, even though it took me a bit longer than it should, and getting a good degree in Art & Design, something I have a real passion for.

2. Having a wonderful happy home with a man I love very much. Ok theres a bit of dust and the carpet could do with a hoover, but its a happy home not a showhome!

3. Escaping city life. It was fun for a while but its just too hectic for me.

4. Being creative, it makes me happy.

5. Raising two well adjusted puddy cats!


5 things I want to achieve before I die

1. To raise a family, I want to be the best Mum I can be.

2. To continue to love what I do workwise, and to find more work that I love doing.

3. To become self employed and make a living from it, or at lease take in more money than I spend!

4. To raise my own food. I know it might sound gruesome, but I do eat meat and its something I'd really like to challenge myself with.

5. To stay relatively helthy and sane, probably not much chance there then!

thanks Paula, it was a toughie and it really made me think :)

On a roll!

Whoohoo! LO 2! This is from a class by the very talented Cath from LCC. Thanks for being such an inspiration.

I was also challenged to make a card from the scraps... so here it is!

Oooo a first

Today I made my very first ever scrapbook Layout... yes I know Ive had an album for nearly a year and have been talking about it even longer than that but Ive finally done it! The inspiration came from the LCC cyber crop which has some fantastically talented people doing the most amazing projects. Im in total awe!

Papers from DCWV and the alpha is Ellison's Block Party. It was fun!


The only problem is now... most of my photo's are on the old hard drive of my dead pc. Its a removable one not the dead one so they're safe, but unaccessable until I get some tecno assistance to put it in this machine. OH did try bless him but no luck.

I'll just have to take some more pics I s'pose!

One thing though, what do you scrap if you dont have kids? I can see myself having albums full of cat LO's soon!

Fog mist and rain

Its been one of those grey days today *sigh*
Nothing to say about it really, just wanted to get that card off of the top of my blog!
Hugs to everyone else who's having one of those days, its no fun....

Hmmm

Hmm, a bookatrix card for the class I'm teaching tomorrow. I cant say its my favourite technique but they wanted to do it and apparently these cards sell really well... personally I'm not sure why when theres so many other fantastic things out there. There's no accounting for taste! What do you think? Answers on a postcard please!

Kathy's 10 card challenge

I did it! Heres 10 for the challlenge, I did loads more especially with my favourite templates. Now to scan them all for my website...

I love Sundays

I think it's fab to have a day thats relaxed and different from all the others. On Lewis where I spent my teenage years the Sunday Observance thing is still very strong, and things like hanging your washing out on a Sunday are frowned on- much better to use your tumble dryer even if its a nice day! The pubs used to shut at 11 on a saturday night. There was no public transport and yes the swings were chained up too!!!

Anyway, none of that here, but I do like a relaxing day and try to avoid going anywhere unless its essential. Today the furthest Ive gone is my Craft room, where I've been immersed in a pile of christmas papers, brads, glue and die cuts trying to get my 10 card challege from Kathy on Carolyn's forum done. Im still stuck on the last template but as soon as I crack it I'll post them all.

Ive been tagged by Kel. I love these.

1. Do you have any middle names?
Nope, and I always thought it was really unfair as my little brothers all did. Still, it could have been something really bad! Maybe they thought I'd have enough bother with Rhiannon. Since I use Rhi all the time with my friends and on the interweb, maybe -annon could be my middle name... nah I think I'll survive without!

2. What's under your bed right now?
Some books and magazines. I read in bed loads so I get a small pile of reading material next to my bed which always ends up getting pushed under. If Im looking for my library books to take back then thats the first place I look. Theres probably a couple of lonely odd socks under there somewhere too but not too much dust as I hoovered it very recently. The book Im reading at the moment is The Day Job by Mark Wallington. Its light hearted and is making me giggle.

3. Last time you laughed so much you cried?
Well I laughed a lot watching Shaun of the Dead recently, a very funny film , but I didn't actually cry I don't think. Might have to get back to you on that one.

4. What age were you when you first drank Alcohol?
I alsways used to get a taste of beer or wine or whatever as a teenager, but the first time I drank to get drunk I was 15. A half bottle of vodka between 3 of us with one tin of coke to wash it down... yeuck. Now I drink about twice a year!

5. Porn Star Name (First pets name and your Motheres Maiden name)?
Well I alsways thought it was your pets name and then your road where you lived so Im 'Sooty Woods' Plus Im not gonna share my mothers maiden name of the interweb incase someone steals my identity!

6. Whats your desk top photo on the pc?
Its the standard blue fluffy sky Im afraid, thats so dull, i really should put something more interesting on!

7. What did you have for breakfast?
Today I had a chocolate chip cookie, a big chewy one.. yumm. I usually have cereal or toast but they were there and I couldn't resist.

8. Music or TV?
It depends, definately music if Im doing something else, I can't stand background TV, it seems pointless. But then if theres a series Im really into then it has to be TV. If I was going to a desert island I'd rather have a stereo though so I'll say Music.

9. Worst outfit you have ever worn?
Well my white with lilac flashes shell suit was pretty bad....

10 Where do you feel most at peace?
In my garden in the summer when the sun is shining, or stomping about the woods in the snow.

Im gonna tag Jo, Debbie and Saffa

Messy again

My craft room's definately not as tidy as it was. I had a couple of classes to prepare for so lots of things got taken out and not put away... As usual. Theres still more than an A4 space on my desk though! Of course you're all welcome round to play, just don't expect it to be as tidy as the pics!

After my class today I fought my way through the traffic into town (and got lost- doh!) to go clothes shopping for something smart to wear to my interview. Managed to get a Jacket and trouser suit in H&M which was very reasonably priced too. The black one was so depressing and made the bags under my eyes stand out a mile so that was a no. I uhmed and ahhed for ages in the changing room between the brown and grey and even though I liked the brown one more, I went for the grey I suited the colour better next to my face and wont date as fast. Now can I get away with my black aspen crocs with it or am I going to have to get evil uncomfy shoes... Oh the interesting dilemmas in my life.

OH has an interview tomorrow for a job with the council so Im going to have an exciting evening testing him on his pre-interview swotting and asking him awkward interviewery type questions. I won't get to find out how it went til tomorrow evening as Im working. Its a good one and decent money so fingers crossed. Its all change in this house at the moment...in a good way :D

Where I craft

Well seeing as I finally tidied my craft room I thought I'd take some pictures and share them with you. We redecorated the room and I love it now, and its much better light than the room at the back of the house. Sitting right by the window is great too.

Note the huge space in the middle of the desk...not often that happens! After 30 seconds crafting it'll be gone!


This is my die cutting area and filing cabinets, one from freecycle and one from a furniture charity shop. Er...yes...theyre just about full *embarassed* but you can't make a card without cardstock :P











My ribbons, yumm. These are over the back of the door pocket thing at the moment which isn't ideal as I have to wade through them to get to the pockets, but theyre so pretty that they have to be out for me to look at.














And this is my collection of lovely stuff, all of it useful I promise!

Credit for the fantastic paper rack has to be given to Kel (thanks so much for the idea and instructions on Carolyn's) as she explained how to make it from a cheap storage thingy from argos, then I got a couple more packs of the shelfy things to make a wall of storage, hooray!



So there you go, my new craft room, time to make a mess now I think, teehee.