Arty Girlz

The challenge set this week by the fab Arty Girlz had a very open theme... "Blue"...

Here I've played with multiple patterned papers with ripped edges & inking & some hearts made using my squeeze punches. Very quick & simple but I did have fun ripping the paper....

Why not pop over now & join in the fun...

Something different

Here is a little something different I have made recently. With it being so nice outdoors recently my OH & I have been doing a lot of al fresco dining & with having recently celebrated out anniversary I must be in a romantic mood or perhaps it's just spending time in the garden with all the lovely colours.

Anyway on a nice hot sunny day out comes the table cover etc but I was lacking a nice posy of flowers to finish the table setting off.

VOILA !!!!!

Picked up these little plastic beakers from the local supermarket for 35p each, very bland though. Out came my Fiskars drill, a few holes were made & then highlighted with black eyelet peel offs. How quick a make is that.....

A quick nip around the garden for some bright flowers to finish my display & flower heaven appeared on my table....

Hope you like....

Whatever your day, why not try something different from your norm just for a change. I made 3 of these little cups & they cost me £1.05 now you really can't ask for much better than that.

Happy crafting

Cards for Maggies Centre

Well today is the day that I agreed to stop the appeal for the Maggies Centre & may I just say what an amazing response there has been to it.... I will leave the appeal at the bottom of my page for another week for those cards which are still in the post, then a name will be drawn for some lovely goodies to be shipped to that person.

A huge thanks goes to everyone who helped out by sending cards for the appeal, I too received numerous lovely handmade cards which were a delight & surprise for me and I actually had one person enclose a little pressie for the woman who is battling the cancer.

All cards will now be shipped off to the Maggies Centre & I'm sure they will be able to raise loads of cash by selling these lovely creations you have all taken the time to send. They do such a lot of good work & it is carried out solely on donations so again THANK YOU.................

Acetate Joy

My cousin got engaged at the weekend & I had to make her a card to mark the event. Oh what to do I asked myself & whilst rummaging I came across this sheet of embossed acetate & that was it....

Took a piece of white vellum & used one of my Fiskars border punch along both ends, then made 3 lace borders from a mauve coloured piece of vellum which I then attached over the top of the white vellum using eyelets. Three adhesive gems down the centre of each lace strip to finish them off. Used my Fiskars squeeze punches for the love hearts, which are also duplicated on the inside of the card and put the lucky couples initial inside the hearts, S for Scott & L for Lorraine using my Sakura white glaze pen. The hearts on the inside are finished off with adhesive gems & to finish the whole card off a lovely piece of white ribbon tied in a pretty bow....

Papertake Weekly

The challenge this week set by papertakeweekly was that of a christmas theme. Well seeing as I had just downloaded the fab new christmas papers from Funky Hand it was such an easy challenge to do (with a lot of thanks to Anice at FH for the fab papers).

If you've never visited any of the sites then what are you waiting for pop on over now by clicking the above links.

Bev's Candy

Wow, news of some fab candy....

Pop on over to see what all is on offer from the lovely Bev.....

Great Monday

What a lovely start I've just had to my week.... logged in today to find that the gorgeous Holly had nominated me for an award...

Had taken the weekend off at my hubby's request as it was our 3rd wedding anniversary on Friday & he wanted us to spend some quality time together. Oh he can be sweet afterall when the mood takes him.... normally we don't get caught up in the monetary value thing of it all but I got a huge surprise this year as when he came home from work on Friday he had a huge M&S bag with him with some lovely Per Una clothes for me, a new pair of jeans, a lovely new 3 in 1 top in orange & the most gorgeous light weight coat in a fab moss green.... I'm a lucky girl.....

Anyway, back to my new award & firstly I would like to say a huge thank you to the lovely Holly please do pay her a visit as she's always a very busy little girl coming up with new cards all the time.

It's the Wylde Women award and the rules are .
1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it's up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post.
2. Link back to this blogsite (http://http://www.tammyvitale.com//) so Tammy can go visit all these wonderful women.and remember the Purpose of the Award: To send love and acknowledgment to women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy.

I have decided to nominate all the people who have sent me cards for my friends Maggies Centre appeal: Bev, Gayle, Mandy, Alison, M.Hicken, Anne-Marie, Vicki, Muriel, Sam, Chris,
this is just to say an extra special thank you to all these ladies for taking the time to help us....

Whoever you are, wherever you are, hope you all have a fab day.

Lorraine xxx

Funky Hand Candy

Congratulations to Funky Hand who are celebrating their 2nd birthday at the moment. As a huge grand gesture to everyone, the fabulous & very talented Anice is giving away some wonderful blog candy & it's very easy to enter.

Everything that is in the picture, which contains some fab giant felt flowers from Prima, a couple of packets of fancy brads, a chipboard alphabet, two chip board hearts, a set of ribbons and A small packet of Doodlebug all mixed up letter rub ons in Bubblegum. But that's not all.... as well as what's in the picture Anice is also going to offer the winner a choice of TWO of her Funky Hand CD paper collections and give them free access to TWO of any of the Funky Hand download collections available on her website. If you win you choose which you want ! Are you seeing a theme of TWO here yet??!

The papers, alphabets etc are absolutely fabulous, yet Anice never fails to amaze us when she comes out with a new product as they are always something new & superb that you can't wait to play with. Get over to her blog now....

http://funkyhand.blogspot.com/

I'm Back

Well hello everyone, sorry I haven't been about the last week but things have been a bit hectic over the last week & none of my days have gone to plan. However, things getting back on track again so will do my best to make up for it over the next week or so....

What a surprise

What a lovely surprise I received today when I was given this lovely award by the very talented Gayle. If you've never visited her blog please pop along today & have a look at her gorgeous creations.

I am now supposed to pass this on to 3 talented people but to be honest it would be so hard to pick just 3 as there are so many talented people out there who inspire us all each day. So, if you are reading this message please accept this award as a gift from me to you.

Happy crafting to everyone...

Lorraine xxxx

Fiskarettes Sketch

Well the lovely Chris over at Fiskarettes was speaking of the advantages of sketches this week, and put one of her own on the blog. She placed an open invite for anyone to use it & challenged poor Kath to see what she could come up with. As per Kath, we have now all been instructed to create something using the sketch & for those of you who know her, well, you do not go against what Big Mamma Kath tells you..... She might steal my teddy bears otherwise.

Anyway, I was making some Fiskars samples this week so was right up my street as I already had all my products out & this is what my final creation looks like.

Off to pop it onto the Fiskarettes blog now so if you haven't visited them you should do as something new is uploaded every day...

Daring Card Makers Challenge

The challenge this week from Daring Card Makers was to make a card using peel-offs. Normally I am not a huge fan of peel-offs but over the last few months there are more & more fantastic colours & designs coming on the market & they can be adapted in marvellous ways. Whilst making some Fiskars samples I stumbled upon these pretty pink ones & decided to make a childs card. Peel offs were coloured in as always using my ever faithful Sakura pens. The star is actually a boingy one on an acetate strip.

Pop over to Daring Card Makers now for more great inspiration.

Arty Girlz

This weeks challenge from Arty Girlz was to create something for a male. Like most people these are cards that do not exactly appeal to me as they can prove very difficult on the ideas front. When stuck this is what I often use as the letters can be adapted for personalisation & it's a quick & easy make.

If you haven't already visited Arty Girlz challenge pop over now for some great inspiration.

2sketches4you

Well, sorry I haven't posted for a few days but things have been a bit busy at the old chaperal.... Have been getting things ready for my Fiskars demo on Saturday & yesterday I took a tantrum & decided to absolutely gut the kitchen.. & I mean gut.....

Anyhow, doing my best to catch up with blogging & get back into my challenges & do as many as possible this week so here's the first up..

If you've never visited 2sketches4you get over there now for some great inspiration. Both Laura & Kazan amaze us week after week with the wonderful sketches they produce for us all. What a fabulous source of inspiration.

Calling All Animal Lovers !!!!!!!

Who knew....... - Calling All Animal Lovers....

Below is a note I found today on Dawns blog. I was absolutely horrified & disgusted to hear this and could not myself watch any such video. Please do read this it's very important....

On a more serious note I was shocked and disgusted to find out that the multi-million pound food company "Mars" conducts horrific experiments on animals all in the name of chocolate....For the full disturbing story and VIDEO (Which I could not bring myself to watch - Sorry Sam but I wouldn't sleep for thinking about it) pop over to Sam's blog.As Sam says if this post helps save even one animal then it's worth it.
NO MORE MARS PRODUCTS FOR ME I'M AFRAID

New Slide Added

Hi folks, just a quick note to let you know that there is a new slide show added to my blog today, it's in the right hand column. This is samples I prepared for Cardology & Sakura for their latest show on Create & Craft. Many of them made their preview today on C&C and I'm happy to add that many of them were Nigel's favourites. The lovely Amanda also based 2 of her demonstrations around some cards I made for the show.

New Sakura Show

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow there is a new show on Create & Craft at 11am. It is a combination of SAKURA & Cardology.

Sure to be fun as the demonstrators are Amanda Bateman & Kay Rutter.

This is one of the cards I made, all the flowers are cut from coloured vellum with additional colour added with Sakura pens. I will try to get a new slide uploaded tomorrow with all the finished samples I made for the show.

Have a great weekend.
Lorraine xxx

Arty Girlz

Another week another Arty Girlz challenge. This is a 3 layer one this week, but for my middle layer I decided to use acetate to that the leafs on the leaf hand side are actually mounted above the card, as opposed to sitting flat. The base layer has been edged using a Fiskars border punch, the black images on the card are all peel-offs (something which I am not a huge fan of, but liked these designs), finally the flower was coloured in using Sakura Stardust pens.

If you've not yet joined in the fun at Arty Girlz then pop over today & have some fun.

Lorraine xxx

2sketches4you

Yet another delighful sketch this week again from the lovely Kazan over at 2sketches4you.

If you've never visited them or joined in the challenge, you really don't know what you're missing. Don't delay, pop over today.

Lorraine xxx

Papertake Weekly

Well yet another fab sketch from Papertakeweekly. If you've never joined in one of their challenges pop along now.

The papers are all from some blog candy I won from Karen, so I must say a big thank you to her. I would have taken a pic of the candy but as you can see I got stuck into it almost as soon as it arrived.

The Power of Love

This is another sample I made for the show due to air on Create & Craft on Sunday 13th at 11am. Here I placed some lovely pink vellum behind the heart appeture, chalded through part of the stencil, chalked the edges, coloured a chipboard flower with my Sakura pen then used a glitter brad for the centre. Another quick make but I think it's quite pretty.

If you can tune in to Create & Craft on Sunday 13th July at 11am for some more great inspiration from Amanda Bateman.

Gift of a Teddy

I have decided to dedicate this card to the lovely Kath as she is such a teddy collector & perhaps it will stop her stealing mine next time she comes to stay...

This is a lovely little image that I printed off yesterday (although my colour cartridge was starting to run low so the colours are not quite as strong as they should be).

I thought he was such a delightful little man that I didn't want to put too much on the card so that you could see him properly, the background papers are lovely so a simple roll of the pawprint paper to create a break on the teddy background, flat mounted the large image & layered the small image onto some dark green card to co-ordinate with the grass he is sitting on. Mounted this with foam pads & a simple knot in the corner to match his bow.

A spray of love

This was a quick little make (apart from the cutting out of the decoupage that is). Done some matting & layering, placed the decoupage on & finished off with some self adhesive pearls. I think this is a card that could be used for any occassion.

The floral decoupage came from my freebies that Stephanie Weightman gave to everyone in her workshops at the Create & Craft Hilton Experience. It is also included on the Special Edition CD which she also gave us. The actual flowers have been painted by Stephanie herself & for those of you who have not seen her paint well, all I can say is you don't know what you're missing.....

Paper take weekly

The challenge set this week by Papertake Weekly Challenges was under the title of "Thanks a Latte". Well fortunately for me this was a card I made a while back of a coffee pot & I had done it will a yellow & brown colour theme. I thought it was quite apt for the challenge.....

If you've never visited Papertake Weekly, what are you waiting for pop over now for some great inspiration.

This is another card I made whilst hubby was at the gym. Larger than my normal make as I was working with an 8x8 paper & I just didn't have the heart to cut it (lucky I got more than one sheet in the pack). This card took a little longer as I played with the paper a lot. You can see from the small pic how I cut some of the petals so that I could lift & curl them. I also wanted to alter the colour of the flowers as I felt the paper looked a little flat as they were only 2 colours to begin with.

Out came my Bruynzeel water colour pencils & Koi water brush. That done I set about the stamen & long grass with my clear Sakura pen. Finally some colour with a delicate amount of sparkle.

Pearls & Gems

After doing the Saturday duties like the supermarket & pet store for supplies (inc a cage for my dwarf chinese hamsters which I am getting tomorrow), hubby popped to the gym for a couple of hours so what else could I do. Craft of course.

I decided upon playing with some of my lovely papers and seeing what I could do with them. This is lovely black & white paper & there is a shadow pattern also which I highlighted with stickles, along with the flower outlines. Matted onto white card & mounted all but one corner on foam pads, the fourth I layed flat just to alter the dimension. To finish off I added black gems to the heart flowers & some white pearls. Now that's quick work.

Happy Days

Whilst watching the Sakura show on Create & Craft today, I decided to have a little play with some of my marvellous K&Co papers. Did I have fun or what, a nice spotty background which I also used on the inside of the card some cut out flowers etc from other sheets, a quickie glue pen, foam pads & before you know it...... Bob's your uncle & you've made a happy little card. Now that's what I call cheap & cheerful..

Happy 4th July

To all you crafty american bloggers out there...

Happy Independence Day.....

Hope you all have a fab day with friends & family & loads of yummy food....

Lorraine xxx

Sakura Magic

Well today I can bring you great news of 2 fantastic new shows due to air on Create & Craft where you can learn new & exciting techniques involving your Sakura Pens.

The first show is due to air tomorrow July 4th at 2pm....

The second show is due to air Sunday July 13th at 11am...

Both shows are going to be a whole load of fun so make sure you watch or tape them.

The second show is dedicated to brand new kits which are great fun to play with.

I was fortunate enough to have received these kits a few weeks back as I was preparing a lot of the samples for the show & boy do they inspire your brain to come up with some fab & bright ideas.

I have attached two cards just to give you a little taster but after both shows have aired I will upload all the samples for your perusal.

Don't forget Create & Craft:

4th July - 2pm

13th July - 11am

I'm now off to hang out washing, cut grass etc so whatever you are up to today have fun....

What a great day

Well folks, sorry I never managed to get any blogging done yesterday but that's because I was too busy having a great day. My day started off with a visit to the Markingworld warehouse as I had a little business meeting there for which I will hopefully be able to share more with you at a later date. In the meantime though I can tell you that there are two fabulous shows coming up on Create & Craft showing some marvellous techniques using your Sakura Pens. So make sure you either watch or record these shows.

Upon returning home the big TNT lorry followed closely behind with some more goodies to add to my Fiskars Kit (more for me to play with.) The post man then arrived & included in yesterdays mail were some lovely cards donated to the Maggies Centre by Bev & all I can say is Wow.... I do admire her work so much.

Then after all that excitement, a car pulled up outside my house & there was I wondering who the strange face was coming towards my door with a huge parcel in hand. Wait for this..... It was the lovely Gayle who lives close to me, so she had actually taken the time to hand deliver her cards to me which she is donating to Maggies Centre.

We appreciate all cards donated to our appeal but I would like to say a major huge thanks to Gayle as she has absolutely excelled here & did infact donate 27 cards to us... All of which are truly stunning...

Thank you Gayle & Bev.

Alas little time was left for crafting once all the housework etc was done so here are some of the cards that I managed to start (there are 7 in total) but they have still to be finished off later today.

2sketches4you

Well here we go again. Yippee..... Another design from 2sketches4you

This weeks sketch was designed by the lovely Laura. A huge praise of thanks go to both her & Kazan for giving us lovely sketches to work with every week.

When I saw this weeks sketch for some reason it immediately cried out Heidi Grace to me. Think it was something to do with the scalloped edge & my wee fluffy circles wanted to be seen on my blog. Couldn't resist putting the flower on as I wanted to use 1 of the circles as the centre.

Oh well poor Heidi papers have been put away again for strocking purposes & who knows when they will be seen again.....

If you've never worked with one of the sketches from 2sketches4you then pop on over as you don't know what you're missing.

Have a fab day everyone.