Bag It

This is a fun little card that I've enjoyed making & it was so quick to do. Wrapped some lovely shimmer fibre around some purple card and mounted onto a white base card. Used a handbag card topper (from Cardology) which I embellished with some gems & mounted onto the card using 3D foam, attached a love heart onto the fibre & some tiny flower embellishments to finish off.

Off to post the card along with some others as it is part of a sample pack to go to a craft shop in Stirling.

Arty Girlz

The challenge set by Arty Girlz this week was centered around "Nature". What better a challenge could we have. Not much.....

To me this card depicts all things natural and I sure had fun playing with all the different textures.

Tag You're It Challenge

Think I've got a little bit of nature flowing through me today, most things seem to be based on natural materials & quotes.

Well for this weeks challenge from Tag You're It, the theme was "Favourite Quote or Family Image". I decided to go with Favourite Quote as I just love this one & often trying to remember it as I'm going through my hectic life. This is one we should all live our life by.

" Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience " by Ralph Waldo Emerson

What an Award

Wow what a lovely start to my day. I've just received the same award from 2 of my buddies. One from Tracey, mother to the lovely Holly & the other from Kath. A big thanks to both you fabulous ladies.

The rules for this award:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.

2. Link the person you received your award from.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Put links of those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated.

Now comes the difficult part which 7 out of all you talented folk out there do I choose..well here goes.

Karen, Georgie, Gayle, Ann, Kerry, Terrie & last but by no means least Bev

Paper take weekly

Here is my take on this weeks challenge from paper take weekly & I really had fun with all the spots on this one & the colours as I seem to have been doing brighter cards with yellows & oranges or soft muted colours.

Fairy Wings

This is such a cute little fairy that she just cries out to be done in fantasy film.... As she appears to be smelling something I decided to put a large flower in the top corner & then some flower gems for a little bling.

ATC Fun

On Friday night we received a lovely talk from Joanna Sheen then we all got to sit together & make ATC's which we could then swap if we wanted. On the evening in question my good friend Amanda was sitting beside me busy crafting away as always making her ATC when my camera happened to pounce upon her. Poor soul thought I was going to ask her a question but oh no, it was my camera doing the talking. Thank goodness she knows I love her.....

Saturday night entertainment

Our entertainment on Saturday night was a whole load of Crafty Fortunes, played in the same manner as Family Fortunes. Once all of the groups had a play off amongst themselves, the winning team then had to play against the experts (even though Stephanie named their team the Oops!!! ). On the celeb team were from left to right Babs, Kath, Noreen, Debbie, Sara & Amanda. So much for being the experts as they were beat hands down by the crafters......

Joanna Sheen

This is a picture I will treasure forever as I am such a Joanna Sheen fan. The pic was taken on the Sunday afternoon during the closing speeches & I was lucky enough to be standing next to Joanna & she agreed to have her pic taken. From left to right we have another two crafty scots Maureen & Linda, Joanna, Me & Sara Davies from Crafters Companion. It's one of the lovely things about the weekend is that you actually have time to have a proper conversation with these people.

2 sketches 4 you

Have been rather short of time this week between one thing & another so my 2sketches4you

had to be a quick make. Very quick card to make approx 5 mins. The gold border was embossed using a Fiskars texture template, the red square was trimmed with deckle edge scissors, I embossed the word love using my Shapeboss & then highlighted the writing with my Sakura Gold Metallic pen, the hearts were then puched using my heart squeeze punch with the red one mounted on foam pads, some gems added for the finishing touch.

Ailsa Craft Group

Well further to my previous post here are the last of my cards made up for Ailsa Craft Groups open day which will hopefully be in October. All members received the same card packs so it will be interesting to see what everyone comes up with. In addition to these we all put in some of our own cards & we also have a little shop where local crafters can stock up on their craft supplies.

Even more goodies

These were some of the freebies we got at the C&C weekend. A nice new cutting mat as we can never have enough of these, storage boxes, card & paper packs & loads of embellishments.

C&C goodies

Well the remainder of my C&C freebies arrived on Wednesday. Due to airline luggage restrictions etc these were kindly forwarded to us via Royal Mail. This is what we received when we arrived at the Hilton & we use them throughout the weekend to go to workshops & great for storing any goodies you buy whilst there.

Daring Card Makers Challenge

This weeks challenge from Daring Card Makers was a quick card in under 30 mins. Again another of my Fiskars samples which took all of 10 mins to make.

http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/

Tag You're It Challenge

This weeks challenge was a tag in a pocket. I've been preparing some samples for my Fiskars demos so here is my final result. Not a lot to it but nice summery colours.

http://weekendtaggers.blogspot.com/

I've been tagged.....

My ever so faithful friend Kath has decided to tag me. So now I have to answer 5 questions & pass it on. Here goes.

1. What was happening 10 years ago:
Well that was an awful time in my life (sorry to depress you all), I had just gone through a nasty divorce which lasted for 2 years, was mourning for my Dad who I sadly lost in 1997 but on a brighter note I was building a new loving relationship with my now hubby Rob.

2. Name 5 things to do today:
Housework, washing, ironing, tag some lovely people & make some Fiskars samples for my upcoming demo.

3. Snacks I enjoy:
Cheese & biscuits every time with some nice green grapes on the side.

4. Things I would do if I were a millionaire:
Bank the money to use the interest to pay for things. Open a craft shop where I could have all my favourites under one roof.

5. Places I have lived:
Well that's really easy. I lived in Hamilton for all of 18 months about 8 years ago and apart from that I have always been in Motherwell.

Now that I'm finished sharing, it's time to pass it on to some other lovely crafters. Here goes, Gayle Cass Kerry Ann & Christy . Sorry girls but it's time to share.....

Lorraine xxx

What a yuck Sunday

Hi guys,

What a yuck day it is here. Slight wind & rain with dark overcast sky. Sounds like an excuse to craft to me.

My lovely hubby is taking me out for lunch today then when I get back I'll run around with the vacuum so it looks like I've worked for hours, need to tidy another little bit of my craft den then will get some crafting done.

I've got some samples I need to make for my Fiskars demo which is on July 19th at The Range in Carlisle & also got some to make for a company in Stirling where I can play to my hearts content.

If I get time I'll post tonight, if not then I'll get them on tomorrow.

Happy crafting to you all today. Lorraine xxx

Craft Group

Recently the President of our craft group had decided to buy in some small card making packs that we could use to create quick cards for sale at our open days. They had originally been priced at £12.99 & she managed to get them for £4.99. The packs consisted of 4 pale green & 4 pale blue pearlecent cards, white envelopes, 4 sheets of patterned vellum, 8 flower heads, 8 greetings & some ribbon.

Our next open day is going to be in October & we use this day to obtain additional funds for the group which we use for things such as outings to the SECC. Last week we were all handed packs for us to make up over the summer holidays & by the time this week arrived, you guessed it, they were still in my craft bag. Thus yesterday I decided to make a start on mine. Here are two of the cards I made & the only additions I made were some little gems. Not bad for a card pack but I certainly won't have enough ribbon or flowers to do all 8 cards. Personally I wouldn't pay the price attached to this pack.

Yellow

Whilst at the Create & Craft Experience I had a very interesting talk with a retailer over the colour yellow. She was saying that no matter what she gets into the shop be it card, flowers etc the one colour that she never sells is yellow. Why is that???

Are we too scared to use such a bright colour? Have we gotten into a habit of using more muted colour schemes? After the conversation, I realised that I was one of those people who never uses yellow so I decided it was time to change that & off I went to find goodies that I could use. The card stock is pale yellow, the background paper as you can see is canary yellow, both of which I inked with a relatively mellow blue, attached using yellow brads. Using a big shot die I cut three tags, inked again & then used Woodware rubber stamps for the greeting & design. The flower heads etc coloured in using Sakura Moonlight pens, a small blue gem was added as a flower centre & blue & yellow ribbon added.

I must admit I did enjoy playing with a colour that I'm not used to & you will probably see more of it on my blog now. What colour do you avoid most, think about it & go on have a play with it.

Blog Candy Give Away

Hey everyone just a quick note to tell you all that Karen is giving away some lovely blog candy. All you have to do is post a comment on her blog to be entered into the comp so come on get over there & enter now.

Arty Girlz

This weeks challenge from Arty Girlz was "Hint of Pink". Well I had won this little pig image in my blog candy last week and I just had to use him. Not exactly what you would call a "Hint", but hey, there's also white orange & yellow on the card.

Isn't he just adorable.......

2sketches4you

Another exciting sketch from 2sketches4you, this week designed by the lovely Laura Davis.

Both girls come up with such great ideas that you can't help but find pleasure in creating your design.

Candy Card

After winning my blog candy from the lovely Gayle she has now set the 2nd part of her challenge, which was to use nothing more than we had received to make a card, with the exception of adhesives. No adding of our own gems etc. Here is my final result.

Personally I think it's bright, cute & adorable (just like myself) or so my husband tells me....

So much thanks goes to Gayle for the goodies she provided.

Stephanie Weighman Workshop

Here is the lovely card we made in our workshop with the delighful Stephanie Weightman. After last years experience we all cried out for a workshop in painting but as it takes some time to learn the technique she uses, she made us all a lovely CD with some of the paintings she has done. For those of you have never seen her paint you don't know what you are missing. The card is 2 sheet of A4 paper with a quarter of the page removed, a vellum strip to act as the horizontal border, 2 strips of red card for the vertical borders & piramage. All of this was enclosed in an acetate bubble. The 2 sheets of card were stuck together on the left hand border the vellum border attached along with the piramage, when this was in place we then attached a sheet of acetate over the whole card so that it produced a bubble at the front to protect the image. Once this was in place we used the 2 red borders to hide the attachment. Finally 2 holes were puched in the left hand side & ribbon threaded through. Very quick & simple to make.

Joanna Sheen

Our guest speaker on Friday night at the C&C Experience was the wonderful Joanna Sheen. I do love her so & she knows it.

For the experience she decided to make a limited edition CD comprising some of her favourite images. There were only 250 produced for the weekend & we were all presented with one as a gift. Hence the title of the CD "From Me to You".

Blog Candy

Whilst away on my trip, this lovely blog candy arrived which I had won last week off of Gayle. Now have to wait on her setting up part 2 of her candy comp which she is going to do once everyone has received their gifts (some is being shipped to America).

Watch this space for the future update.

Look what I won !!!!

Whilst doing Amanda Batemans workshop, the wonderful Flying Scotsman very kindly gave away some free goodies. He arrived at our workshop all kilted up in true Scots manner & asked us all to look under our seats to see if we were infact sitting on Amanda's face. Low & behold I was so I was one of several people lucky enough to receive a lovely freebie from him. Boy was I happy & can't wait to get playing with it.

Create & Craft Experience

Well folks I'm back. Exhausted I admit but I'm here (minus a lot of my goodies). Here is my cute new teddy whom I have called Hugo. Extremely squeezable may I add. More freebies are being delivered in about a week as I couldn't get them on the plane home.

What a fab time I had in Birmingham and it was all go for the full weekend. We had workshops with the lovely Hina Modha (who is also a Fiskars demonstrator) who was demonstrating Redhotbed products, the glitter girls who were demonstrating their embossing boards, Noreen who was demonstrating Flower Soft, Sara Davis who was demonstrating the top score & enveloper, Debbie Williams who was demonstrating hummel mini decoupage, Stephanie Weightman who was demonstrating her CD's & picture boxes, then last but by no means least, the lovely Amanda Bateman who was demonstrating using Stampasaurus clear stamps & our all time favourite moonlight & glaze pens by Sakura.

Hope you enjoy looking at all the stuff I have to post.

Love Lorraine xxxxx

P.s It's nice to be back to you all again.

2sketches4you

Another load of fun making my entry for 2sketches4you challenge for this week. Must be honest though & say it was extremely rushed as at the moment I'm getting ready to jet off to Birmingham for the Create & Craft Experience. However, could not go without doing my challenge.

I think the colours very much represent my mood today.

Well I must bid a fond farewell to you all for a few days, but watch this space as the camera is packed & will hopefully have a few good pics to upload on Monday.

Happy crafting over the weekend.

Love & will miss you all

Lorraine xxx

Bag of Flowers

This is a little project that I had fun making. It was a cardboard handbag that I coloured with one of my Colorbox inks then muted the edges with another colour & faux stitching was added using a Sakura stardust pen. The flowers were cut from K&Co papers then layered using foam pads & stickles to add some sparkle. The tiny dragonflies were made using a Fiskars puch & added some small gems to finish off.

Blog Candy Winner

Well my blog candy competition has now closed and I would like to thank everyone who took the time to enter. Sadly there could only be one winner and I am pleased to announce that it is AMY in lovely Virginia. Well done.....

Watch this space for more blog candy in the future & happy crafting to everyone.

Amy can you drop me a note of your address please & I will get your candy in the post to you.

A Little Muted

Created this whilst playing with my Laura Ashley papers. I layered a section of paper on the bottom half of the card & cut out 3 flowers from another paper then some circles for the flower centres. To add a bit of sparkle I used my ever faithful stickles to highligth the design & some faux stitching. I'm not entirely happy with the end result & wish I had just inked the edges instead. Hey we all make cards we're not happy with but that's crafting for you.

No pics today

Sorry folks, but it's been one of those days today. Hubby had the hospital at 11am today & after being there for approx 3 hours they have decided that they are 99% positive that he has spondolitis. Returning from hospital, I then discovered that one of my dear bunny rabbits had passed away whilst we were gone so that was upsetting. Another one in bunny heaven & now I'm down to seven. My foot is still pretty swollen although it is feeling a bit better tonight so hopefully I'm recovering now. Was lucky enough to hear that I had won some blog candy from the lovely Gayle so that put a smile on my face.

I'm off now to make a fathers day card & birthday card for my brother in law. Hopefully I'll have pics for you all tomorrow.

Happy crafting
Lorraine xxxx

Add some sparkle

After doing some gardening yesterday in the sweltering sun, had a spider crawling on me (I'm terrified of them) & being bitten once on the arm, twice on the back & once on the foot, I decided to call it quits in the garden.

I don't take well to bites & have scratched them before I realise it's a bite so today I have huge red lumps on my body & my foot is very swollen, warm & extremely painful.

Anyway, back to yesterday in order to soothe myself I had a little play with my Laura Ashley papers. Nothing exciting, two sheets of paper layered onto my card, some ribbon & gems then had to glitz my fancy paper up with my wonderful stickles. When in need of a quick card these are fantastic papers to use as they are so decorative you can use them plain or like me just add some sparkle.

Unfortunately, I have to go do the weekly shop now so no card making for me until later today. Boo Hoo......

How Funky!!!!!!

Well it's been another relaxing day for me again giving the brain some time off from work and boy did I have fun.

That's not to say I didn't do anything as I did manage to do all the housework, washing & even done most of the ironing, only exception being my husbands shirts. I hate doing them so there are actually 16 of them for me to iron over the weekend. Yuck...............

But on a much nicer note I was playing with more of my downloaded Funky Hand papers just to make 2 sweet little cards.

The first is some dotty paper used as the background with some ribbon attached & a knot tied, faux stitching around the edge of the background as well as the flower heart & petals. I mounted the petals & centre on foam pads to add some depth & hightlighted the spots in the centre with stickles. To finish off I added a tag saying "It's your day".

The second is made using a section of spotty background paper with faux stitching. On the left hand side I used Staz On to stamp on some floral images from Wendie Rhodes & added a few to the right hand side too for slight detail. Then added to blooms again from Funky Hand. Flower centres were highlighted with stickles & one with a tiny round gem. Told you I had a whole load of fun today & now I'm off to put my entry on Fiskarettes. Happy Crafting................

2 sketches

Well the other day whilst browsing through my friend Kaths blog I discovered that she had entered a challenge with 2sketches4you so I popped over to their blog to have a look. What a fab site.

I've had such a busy time over the last 6 weeks that I haven't had much time to play & never entered a challenge before so here I go with my first one.

Both cards were made using papers that I had downloaded from Funky Hand but again had never had the opportunity to play with so I really did have a whole load of fun making these 2 cards.

Why not pop over to 2sketches4you right now & join in the fun....

Whatever you do, hope you all have a great day crafting. xxx

Blog Candy Give Away

Good News................
Being relatively new to Blogging, I'm learning more each day so I've decided it's time to try my hand at giving away some blog candy. As this is my first time I'm had to wrack my brain to come up with your challenge but I've now decided (the answer is somewhere in my blog).

The challenge is:

What 2 Create & Craft celebrities attended my craft group?

The winner will be chosen at random by my hubby Rob on Wednesday 11th June so hurry now & get your answers in fast.

Pink Blossom

Unfortunately I cannot show this pretty card at it's best as it is constructed from acetate & vellum only. The base card of acetate itself is 5" x 5" layered with a vellum wrap that is 2.5" x 5" held in place with eyelets (used my trusty crop for this) with a black ribbon tied on front. The background on the vellum is made using versamark on a small rubber stamp brushed with mica pigment. The cherry blossom is stamped in black staz on & then highlighted with black stickles. Colour was applied using Sakura pens & finished off with the addition of a few small gems. It really is a quick & easy make. Both stamps are from Clarity Stamps.

Tip Toe

This has to be one of my favourites because it's such a simple card. Base card is white with a strip of patterned vellum down the left hand side edged with black ribbon. A further strip of black ribbon was placed down the right hand side with some gems added for a little bit of bling. I then stamped this gorgeous image onto a piece of white card with black Staz On & cut out leaving a slight white border, then layered this onto a piece of black card & finally mounted using foam pads. Stamp is from Clarity Stamps.

Boxing Around

On the day of the First Holy Communion favours were to be given out to all the guests in attendance. Again I stuck to a white & silver theme, this time using an exploding box template by the wonderful Wendie Rhodes. For the base layer I used a stencil to provide the background available from Cardology as part of a Sakura set. For the inner layer I simply went around the edges with my silver pen as I felt there was enough design on the bottom layer & there were also chocolates to go inside. The lid was edged again in silver & finished off with Crystal Stickles.

Invite

I recently completed an order for a friend whos daughter was making her First Holy Communion and she wanted something special for her. I decided to do make the invitations in the form of a glove as all the little girls wear their white gloves on the day. This was done using a WS Design template, the finger seperations are silver peel offs. As I was keeping to a white & silver theme & wanted to give some light design on the glove I used Crystal Stickles to create little dots all over. Used a Holy Communion rubber stamp to emboss onto another piece of white carded, rounded the corners & then mounted on foam pads. They went down a treat & everyone was asking my friend where she got them. So glad I was able to give her & her daughter something special.

Box Baby

This is my little box baby & personally I think he's adorable. Worked on a blue base card & used a button rubber stamp to stamp the background, inked the edges & added some faux stitching. For the baby himself I stamped onto a white piece of card then used a water colour effect with my Sakura Pens. Finished him off again with inked edges & faux stitching. All products used were purchased from Cardology. I hope you all think he's cute too.