MIA........Bad Blogger!!!

Hey folks - I hadn’t realised quite how long it had been since I posted, life has somewhat taken over and crafting has somewhat unfortunately gone on the back burner for the next week or so. In my wisdom, I decided that the Easter weekend was a great opportunity to crack on with decorating my crafty space, so out came the shelves, desk and general room contents. Needless to say, the works didn’t quite run to schedule and we're still in the process of painting - we should hopefully be finished by the end of next weekend though, then my new carpet, shelves and soft furnishings’ can be fitted, and finally I can move my stash into its new space!!! I’ll try and post some pictures of the progress in the next couple of days.

Other exciting news from the last couple of weeks.... I've taken the plunge and signed up as an SU demonstrator!! My starter kit has now arrived and I’m trying to find some time to organise my first class/workshop. Meanwhile, I’ve got a number of swaps to organise over the next couple of weeks, so hopefully I'll have some creative bits to share soon. In the meantime it's back to work and then painting the walls this evening!

Only 1 more sleep to go!!!

Until I get to go on retreat to Stratford - whoopee :)  In the meantime, here's a card that I completely forgot to post a couple of weeks back when I made it.  It was a birthday card for my friend's husband - yet another masculine card, not my favourites!  You may recognise the general layout from the Valentine's card that I made for Darren, I changed the colours to taken with teal, chocolate chip and kraft, and wound linen thread around the mat layer - 5 times in total so that I could meet the requirements of February's 'Anything Goes' design team challenge on ILWS.

 

Recipe: 'have a wonderful day' stamp (hero arts), sentiment from Upsy Daisy (Stampin Up!)

 taken with teal, chocolate chip and kraft cardstock, white and copper ink, brown brads and linen thread,

I think that's all for today, so I'm going to go and bounce off the walls and ceiling in anticipation of Tomorrow :)
thanks for stopping by!
Linz

Happy Mother's Day

Howdy folks, well I don't know where the last fortnight has disappeared to!  I spent most of last week doing creative things - but not really much to show for it at the moment.  Although I did spend last Sunday experimenting with my new light tent for taking photos - I'm still not convinced that the results are much better than they were before, but I did take somewhere in the region of 400 shots whilst experimenting - just as well that they were all digital!!  the first thing to share today is the card that I made for both of our mum's, using my new favourite set - A Rose is a Rose.

I've spent some time 'organising' in preparation for redecorating my craft room, and found a box of scraps and 'work in progress' that I'd completely forgotten about - and I found these cute little robots, all stamped, coloured and mounted, so thought I'd make use of them, as I have a fair few little boys' birthdays coming up.

Other than that, I've been making wedding invites for a swap over on ILWS, I've used a black and white colour scheme, so this is also my entry for this month's design team colour challenge.

I've been promising that I'll post group 2's swaps from the 'Live Life in SU Colours' swap on ILWS, so here they are.

From top left: not sure who - no name on back!, C&S cards, Papercraft Clare, Vannessa, sharenslz and cupcake - I posted mine a couple of weeks ago.  Some beautiful cards, so thank you ladies!

So I guess that my plan for this week is to make Darren's Birthday card and gift packaging, as I'll be away next weekend on the SWUS retreat!  (only 6 more sleeps to go!)

Have a good one

L

Slow day at the office....

Why is it that when you really want to be at home crafting, work just seems to drag?!  I've wanted to get home all day so that I could finish off this little card and get on with some 'new baby' designs.  This is my entry for this fortnight's Elzybells' challenge, which is to create a card using their stamps which features more than one fold. It's my friend's daughter's birthday coming up soon, so I chose the spring fold again and used the girl on a swing stamp paired with daisy bucket paper. I'm really pleased with the effect - it's girly without being babyish (something that every 6 year old who's going on 60 wants to avoid!!).

Then I needed to make some new baby designs as various friends are expecting, these two were based on designs I'd seen in blogland.  The first is inspired by Heather Nichols' papertrey birthday bash entry, I've changed the colour scheme to pinks and lemons and replaced the cake image with a pram.  I've added faux stitching with my paper piercing template and a white gel pen. 

The second is based on a card designed by Sara Rayner, but uses a scalloped circle cut from cardstock instead of a stamped image.

And finally, I realised that I haven't shared the valentines card I made for Darren last week. I used a combination of kraft, chocolate chip and bravo burgundy with linen thread and antique brass heart brads for a masculine look.  The stamps are all from Elzybells' Valentine Tags 2 clear stamp set. I created the border on the base card using the 'from the heart' sentiment, with one heart from the strip stamped in between the sentiments.

Recipes
Spring Swing - Girl on a Swing Stamp (Elzybells) Sincere Salutations (Stampin Up!), Black Stazon Ink, scalloped border, oval and scalloped oval punches (SU!) Katy paper (Daisy Bucket Designs), flowers and brads from stash

Patchwork Baby - stamps: pram (A muse artstamps) It's a Girl! (Hero Arts) polka dots basics II (PTI)
Regal rose, pretty in pink, so saffron, kraft and whisper white cardstock (SU!)
Circle and Scalloped circle nestabilities, hand brads (woodware), so saffron ribbon (SU!)
Black and white ink, clear embossing power, white gel pen, paper piercing template from mat pack (SU!)

It's a Girl! - stamps: pram wheels (A muse artstamps) Congratulations (from stash) Polka Dot Basics II (Papertrey Ink)
pink striped paper (Doodlebug Design Inc) regal rose, pretty in pink cardstock and whisper white cardstock (SU!) Heart Buttons (Hero Arts) scalloped circle nestabilities, ticket corner punch (SU!)

Darren's Valentine - stamps: Valentines Tags 2 (Elzybells), kraft, chocolate chip and whisper white cardstock (SU!), bravo burgundy and chocolate chip ink (SU!) linen thread (SU!) antique copper heart brads (making memories)

Well, that's all for today - i need to get back in my room and create some mothers day cards now :)
Have fun folks!
Linz

Spring cards!!

Morning all, I cant quite believe that we're back to Monday morning again so soon, where are the weeks (and more importantly the weekends) going?  I spent Saturday in fancy London town to meet my friend, but unfortunately engineering works on the tube screwed it up and I missed meeting her.  Darren thought it great though as he got to go to Farlows on Pall Mall (the only fishing supplier with a Royal Warrant) and gaze at his equivalent of pretty things.  Given that it was cold and snowy outside yesterday I snuggled down in my craft room and got creating, the first card is a birthday card for Darren's grandad whose birthday is in March - I know, a masculine card, early?!!  I've used the spring fold technique, along with the colour scheme specified in this month's design team challenge over on In Love With Stamping - old olive, bordering blue, close to cocoa and whisper white.    

I also had a comission to make a 40th Birthday Card, I'd been stroking my Bella Bleu papers for a while and decided it was time to cut into them.  I used the colours in the papers to define the card colours.  The '40' is cut using my CraftROBO, other than that it's stamping and cutting with my guilotine and nestabilities. 

Recipes:

Spring Tree - Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Upsy Daisy Sentiment (Stampin Up!) Vintage Labels (PTI)
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Bordering Blue, Whisper White (SU!)
Ink: Bordering Blue, Old Olive (SU!)
Other: Old Olive DSP, labels 1 nestabilities, green brads from stash, oval & scalloped oval punches (SU!)

Bella Bleu Birthday- Stamps: Frames with a Flourish, Sincere Salutations (SU!)
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla (SU!)
Ink: Not Quite Navy (SU!)
Other: Bella Bleu DSP , Kraft Tafetta Ribbon, Filigree Designer Brad - (all SU!) square nestabilities, corner rounder punch, stamp-a-ma-jig, CraftROBO
 

I've got a couple more creations to share, but didn't get chance to photograph them last night - so I'll hopefully post them later this week.  Until then - have fun!

Linz

Stamp With Us New Year - Challenge 1 and Mojo Monday

Well it's been a busy couple of weeks, and I've been finding lots of time to spend in my craft room (though still not as much as I would like!!).  Last week saw the start of the stamp with us new year classes and challenges, so I'm in the process of making a number of easter treats which I'll be posting in the next couple of days. The first thing I have to share today is the first challenge card, which had to incorporate regal rose, bashful blue, barely banana and certainly celery (all SU colours), I based my card on the Mojo Monday 123 sketch and used the greenhouse garden stamp set, which I'm loving at the moment.

I liked the layout and effect so much that I changed the colour scheme the next day and had another go.

It was Darren's gran's birthday last week (Happy Birthday Phyllis!), and she still loves to write to her friends, so I made her a little box of notelets, using the design and colour scheme from my limited supplies challenge in the ILWS challenge cup back in January.  I've made a co-ordinating box, five 4" notelets and stamped five co-ordinating envelopes, I'm just awaiting her feedback now!

And finally, I've found some time to get my 'wild about you' stamp set inky, for my friend's son's 4th birthday, he's loving his bright colours at the moment, this design was inspired by one that I saw on a blog somewhere - but I cant find the link right now.

Recipes:

SWU NY Colour challenge - Stamps: Greenhouse Garden, Sincere Salutations (Stampin Up!)

Cardstock: Regal Rose, Barely Banana, Whisper White(SU!)

Ink: Bashful Blue, Regal Rose, Barely Banana, Certainly Celery (SU!)
Other: Certainly Celery Poly Twill Ribbon, scalloped circles nestabilities, flowers and brads from stash

Greenhouse Garden Birthday- Stamps: Greenhouse Garden, Sincere Salutations (Stampin Up!)
Cardstock: Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White (SU!)

Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Bravo Burgundy (SU!)
Other: Haiku DSP (SU!), Red Grosgrain Ribbon, scalloped circles nestabilities, flowers and brads

Notelet Set - Stamps: Miracles Blossom (Verve Stamps)
Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White (SU!)
Ink: Basic Black (SU!) Image coloured using markers
Other: Black & White DSP (Papertrey Ink)


Have a Really Wild Day - Stamps: Wild About Ypu (SU!)
Cardstock: Real Red, Brocade Blue, Green Galore, Yo-yo yellow
Ink: stamps coloured using markers
Other: Red grosgrain ribbon, scalloped circle and circle punches, quickutz star numbers and shadows, mirror card, foam pads

Well, thanks for stopping by, that's all for now, hopefully a couple of valentines and some easter treats to share over the next few days (providing work doesnt get in the way of me having crafty time!)

Linz

Life in SU Colours Swap

Well, I've had a busy ol' weekend; I spent Saturday shopping for soft furnishings with my mum for her redecorated lounge and then Sunday in my craft room 'creating' a big mess. Earlier in the week I was busy creating samples for the ILWS 'Life in SU Colours' Swap, the challenge - to create a card using our favourite SU colours. I picked sage shadow, chocolate chip and whisper white and combined those with the lovely as a tree stamp set to create some masculine birthday cards - a type a usually struggle with. I added a little glitter and ribbon - on a MAN card I hear you ask? Take a peek and see what you think - I thought it made it look a little frosty. I'm looking forward to receiving the other swaps soon.

Recipe - Tree-Mendous Birthday:
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Frames with a Flourish, Upsy Daisy (All Stampin Up!) Vintage Labels (Papertrey)
Cardstock: Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White (SU!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, Bashful Blue (SU!)
Other: Ribbon from stash, foam pads, labels 1 nestabilities, ticket corner punch (SU!)