Kathy's Waffle

Is it an Album?....

2009-07-09T09:43:00.003+01:00

....is it a mini book?......is it a Photo Frame?

Well I think it's all of those tied up in one compact little bundle. Or rather, it will be when its all finished. Its my turn to add something to Bubbly Scrumptious, the emag for the Bubbly Funk shop, and today is the start of a 2 part project. This one is a mini album which folds up neatly to carry in your bag, but can also serve as a free-standing photo display thingummy (tech term) This week I've made the basic book and the front cover, next time it'll be making the back cover, assembling the book and adding the inside pretties. This one's earmarked for MIL, with both her birthday and "that other thing" in December its always a bit of a stressy "agggghhhh what on earth can we get for your mum?" sort of time. You can find the project and more pictures HERE and all the July Kit components are in the SHOP - and Caroline's just announced that her Summer Sale has begun...... Now I need to get off here and get busy with my DCM card for tomorrow - The lovely Rein has set a real humdinger of a dare this week so watch out folks! Back tomorrow if I manage to get my card done in time, that is!

Vote for Jo

2009-07-07T20:55:00.003+01:00

Another shout-out for a DCM Teamie!
Our wonderful, talented and all round fabby person Jo Kill has made it to the final 20 of Paper Craft's Gallery Idol

Please please pop along and vote for her fabulous wedding card HERE

You do need to register first, but it only takes a minute and I think after that you can place a vote each day.

Let's hear it for Our Jo!

99 Things

2009-07-07T17:04:00.004+01:00

My lovely friend and co-DCMer Sue is celebrating her 2nd Blogaversary with an enormous stack of blog candy. To be in her lucky dip you need to tell her which of these 99 things you've done. I couldn't resist having a go so here are mine. My "done that" things are in bold

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world/Disneyland Paris
8. Climbed a mountain (well, only Mt Snowdon - but I've done that twice)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (I saw one from the beach in the Maldives - hope that counts!)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child (we sponsor a child through World Vision, I wonder if that counts?)
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Made a Snow Angel
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (nah, OH was too mean, had to make do with water taxis!)
27. Run a Marathon
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Stood in the rim of the Grand Canyon
32. Been on a cruise (Gulet cruises in Turkey)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an erupting volcano in person.
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa (Morocco)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (a pencil drawing when I was about 3)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Cookies for charity
62. Gone whale watching
63. Been given flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy
70. Visited Buckingham Palace
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt or blanket
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Been to the top of the Empier State Building
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

One or two in there I wouldn't mind ticking off some day, but a lot that I'm fairly content not to have done. Shame about Hawaii being mentioned by name - I've been to Fiji and the Cook Islands in the South Pacific but they just had to go and say Hawaii didn't they? lol

Check out Sue's lovely blog to see her own "done thats" and of course to see what her wonderful blog candy consists of.

Party Time

2009-07-06T15:35:00.007+01:00

Just finished a commissioned wedding card - well actually I sort of finished it at the weekend but then decided it could do with a bit of "something extra".
The turquoise flower didn't really stand out as well as I'd planned, so I made a new flower template for Mr Robo to cut - I used some PSP preset heart shapes as the basis for the flower then used the paintbrush tool to give them a more random shape. I cut it out using the dark pink paper just big enough to add some background colour to the original Prima flower. I cut a smaller version to add interest to the right side of the message piece too.

I've used MME Bella Bella papers for this, my trusty Fiskars border punch for the lacy edge, little chipboard birdies and hearts are from Bubbly Funk. The large words are Robo cut and the small tag was pc generated.

As a reward to myself for finishing my orders and getting them parcelled up and ready for the post, I allowed myself a little "playtime"
This is one of the cards I made this morning

The cupcake and candles are more of my own templates for the Craft Robo. It's amazing what you can do with a couple of PSP pre-set shapes and then a bit of manipulation with the paintbrush tool!
I've been meaning to use this template to make a card for the June challenge on the Bubbly Funk blog. There's a fabulous Blog Candy prize up for grabs, and although the July challenge is now up and running I'm not too late getting my card into the draw because the prize covers both June and July's challenges. phew!
Just as well though, as the July one really has me stumped!

I'm sorry, but I must just have a moan at this point!
Is it just me who finds Rub-ons should be re-named Rub-bish?
I really should stop buying them, but I keep thinking the next set will be better. I've found very few makes that I can actually get on with and its just so disappointing when you've put time and effort into making something which is then messed up by rub-ons that don't work properly. It's not just the cheaper ones that are failures either. I used Scenic Route ones on this card and still got into a pickle. Mind you, at least these letters were big enough to hide the manky bits with some good old Stickles - which I think ended up looking better than the plain black letters would have done anyway. nah nah ne nah nah

Maybe we should all boycott Rub-ons until the manufacturers get their testing done properly - I'm sick of bits going missing, and other bits ending up on parts of the cards they weren't of some others! One Maya Road sheet I have - and I do like these ones, they work really well - but the sheet has 11 letter "i" and only 2 letter "y"s. That means I can write just ONE "Happy Birthday" message from this sheet.

They should be a fab, easy and quick way to make your messages, but usually you have to somehow disguise the bits that went wrong, so everything takes longer in the end! grrrr

I will now get off my soapbox, and I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear that!

Papers are the gorgeous MME Breaking Free collection and yes, I know I'm in a bit of an MME rut, but why not when they are as fab as this? lol lol
Right, back to work
Thanks for visiting

A Guest Spot!

2009-07-05T20:59:00.005+01:00

Rosie asked if I'd like to do a Guest Designer spot on the Rose-Dee challenge blog during the month of July.
As this lovely blog sets challenges that you can then use for any craft you fancy it'll be a fun way to do some of the things I don't make so often - maybe give myself an extra challenge to try tags/twinchies/ATCs etc - no promises, mind!

Actually the first challenge for the month of July is a sketch - so what do yout think I've made? Yep, you got it - I made a card!

Here's the sketch for this week's challenge

This is the card I made, I decided to use the diamonf shape as an aperture and put the focus item pn the inside of the car, peeking through the aperture. To get the double-frame effect of the sketch, I cut the aperture in the card, and them again in the paper which I then peeled back and
distressed a little.

All the papers are from MME's Pretty Please collection, some ribbon from Ribbon Oasis and some tiny gems from one of the Anita's Gem Wheels

The new Rosie-Dee Design Team have their very first outing this week, so if you've not visited the blog before, now's a really good time to check it out!

Blue......and Green

2009-07-03T10:00:00.002+01:00

It's Vanessa's turn to set the challenge for The Daring Cardmakers this week and she's chosen a colour combination theme for her dare.

I remember my Grandma saying "Blue and Green should never be seen" when I was a little girl - I never did understand why that should be because after all the grass is green and the sky is blue (sometimes) and they seem to be happy together, don't they. Or maybe not; because all the hot sunshine we've been having lately has turned the grass in our garden quite brown already!

Anyway, I like blue and green together, they always seem a calm, cooland restful colour combination to me.
Initially I thought I'd look for pale shades of the two colours as a starting point, but then I remembered on of my old Basic Grey paper pads (hang on while I go and check which it is...), "Boxer" - I do like the way the colours and designs go together in this set - lovely for men's cards - so that's what I ended up making.
Nothing complicated for this one, but some fave techniques and elements did find their way in.
I made the mosaic tiles by sticking various of the papers onto card then cutting 2.5 cms squares and using the Zutter Round it All to soften the corners.
For a change I joined the edges of the little tiles to make the design instead of leaving gaps between them.
The faux brads are scraps of paper glued to chipboard - I use whichever Cuttlebug die has the right size circle for the project - in this case it's one of those from the flowers die set. To finish the "brads" I put a blob of Glossy Acents on the top. Perfectly matching brads for all your projects lol!
For the lettering I used Mr Robo. For the word "birthday" I wanted the letters to sit on rounded rectangles so I first loaded each letter individually into a Robo page, then "drew a rounded rectangle around the tallest of the letters to check I'd made it tall enough, then moved it over the widest letter to make sure it was wide enough too. Then its an easy job to copy and paste as many as required.
The actual letters were then cut twice, once in card and the second time in the the patterned paper which this time came from the BG "Periphery" paper pad.

I used Hobo font for both the individual letters and also for the "Wishes" which I expanded the letter size then welded together first in Paint Shop Pro.

We'd love you to join inwith our Blue and Green dare - if you need some inspiration por maybe some convincing as to how great the two colours can look together, pop over to the The Daring Cardmakers Blog to see what the girls have been making this week - and to meet Gail, who is our fab Guest Designer for July.

Thank you to everyone who joined in last week's Post Pals challenge - I've not had a chance to get around and see all the cards because I've been really busy since getting back from our IOM trip - but that's on my "to do" list for the weekend. Just thought it was worth mentioning that the PostPals scheme is always there so just because the DCM challenge is over, doesn't mean that you can't send cards to those poorly kiddies any more.....

Right.
Still need to finish that Wedding card...
And I have something else I need to make by end of play today too.
And its still HOT - very humid today too
Thanks for visiting

Very Verbena

2009-07-02T08:51:00.003+01:00

Just before we left for "Out-law Visiting" on the Isle of Man, my DT version of the July Bubbly Funk kit arrived. This one is based around the K&Co Verbena collection and is filled with papers, card, lace, ribbon, flowers, mini photos and all sorts of other interesting and inspiring "stuff". Its now on sale in the Bubbly Funk SHOP and there are various options you can choose from or mix and match.

My first project using the new kit is something really quick and easy - handy for a mini gift, to give now, or maybe stash away for little "sticking fillers" when the C word time comes along.
The mini jotter that formed the starting point for this came from Wilkinson's and at the princely sum of 9 pence is a bargain!

Having made that one, I then spotted the remains of my June kit so made another one using leftover paper and card plus some bits from my own stash.
I think I'll be heading back to the local Wilko's and stocking up on more of these notebooks - they'll be great to pop into envelopes along with Birthday cards etc, just as a tiny surprise gift.
You can visit the Bubbly Scrumptious blog HERE to see how I went about decorating

Now, I really really must get the wedding card I've been struggling with done and ready to send off to my customer. So far there are two failed attempts at making this one - keep your fingers crossed that its third time lucky, will you, please?
Have a great day

Dan's Birthday

2009-06-30T13:36:00.003+01:00

Wow, its a bit on the warm side here in the UK - looks like summer might have arrived with a vengeance - we've even had to get the fan out of the loft, I'm just hoping we've not jinxed the sunshine by doing that!

We've just got home from a weekend on the Isle of Man (In-Law visiting) in time to drive over to my Bro's house and wish nephew Dan a Happy Birthday. Actually we had to buy his present too before we went - and though I'd made his card last week I didn't have time to do a photo before we left - another little job for yesterday afternoon.

Quite incredibly, it didn't rain the whole time we were on the IOM - I've been visiting for the last 15 years or so, and I think that's the first time we've stayed dry! It was even warm and sunny most of the time, though cloudy and hazy at times too. No doubt there'll be a few photos to bore you with soon......

I made another of those fab pop-up cards for Dan - tbh I was a bit stumped as to what to do and didn't really have a lot of time to think of something new. Never mind, he liked it and I noticed my bro having a quiet little look at how it works - he's not one to show much enthusiasm for my cards, he works for a Greeting Cards manufacturer and I think he regards handmade cards as cheating him out of custom lol lol Tough, I say!

Here's the card
I used:
Cosmo Cricket "Get Happy" paper pad
Bazzill card in matching colours
Craft Robo to cut all letters and numbers
Sizzix Trophy Die
thin red wire to make the springs

Now I really should stop procrastinating and make some new stuff!

Thanks for visiting
Your visits and comments are always valued

Crafty Templates Again

2009-06-28T10:01:00.000+01:00

Ooops!

I completely forgot to add my other cards made with the latest set of Leo's wonderful Crafty Templates

The first one uses a really lovely frame template, I love the fancy design the top of the frame has so I cut the pattern several times so that I could add lots of dimension. I was trying for a shabby chic, distressed look to the frame for this one
I've used paper and fabric from the Crafty Goodies kit to make this card, adding a vase of flowers isnide the frame. I think it still needs something else added inside the frame but I can't decide what. A little butterfly perhaps?

This next template reminded me of my Grandma who would often serve cakes on a cakestand at Sunday teatime. Oh yes, and when we were in Bath a few years back we went to the Pump Rooms for Afternoon Tea (well, you've just got to, hgaven't you?) and they brought the scones and cakes on one of these:

I couldn't resist making mini cupcakes to display on the tiers, decorated with sparkles, Glossy Accents and some "cherries"

Find out all about the Templates HERE.

Post Pals

2009-06-26T10:05:00.001+01:00

We're doing something a little different over on The Daring Cardmakers this week and we are hoping that lots of our fellow cardmakers will join in and help us with this wonderful idea.

Post Pals is a fantastic scheme which aims to put a smile on the faces of some very very poorly children indeed. All they ask is that you look at their website, and send a card to one of the hospitalised kiddies you'll find listed there. How easy is that?

The children all have a contact/forwarding address to send the cards to, and a little biography so you can maybe tailor your card for a particular child. Just browse that website and your heart will go out to these little boys and girls - choosing just one to send a card to is sooooo hard!

If you look through the lists you'll also see messages from those who've received cards through Post Pals and read how valued those cards were.

It was Sue's who suggested we do something for Post Pals, so our challenge this week has been to make

Childrens' Cards

you can see the cards we made on our BLOG

This is a UK scheme, but we're sure that there are similar organisations/charities in other countries - or maybe you could donate your card to a charity sale or something like that instead.

Of course I'm sure that Post Pals children would be over the moon to receive a card from another country if you wanted to send one through Post Pals

This is the card I've made to send to one of the Post Pal children

I decided to have a go at a different sort of pop-up card for this dare. The Flying Saucer is cut on the Robo using one of the first templates I made. I've added lots of silver stars and a few tiny Anita's gems for some extra sparkle.

Inside there's a Little Green Man waiting to say "Hello"
But it's OK he's not at all scary!
Please try to join in and support this wonderfully worthwhile scheme along with The Daring Cardnakers
Thank you

Andrea Victoria Cards

2009-06-25T10:13:00.001+01:00

Over the last few weeks on Bubbly Scrumptious I've been making something which I'm planning to use as gift when the C-Word comes along (you know the word I mean....) The first week was spent making the folder with its rigid inner pockets and preparing it for decorating - which was the second part of the project and appeared last week. This week I've been making the cards to go inside. I could have sworn I'd made six, but when I went to do the photos there were only 5, so either one is hiding among the craft clutter, or more likely - I just can't count! So, for the moment there are 5 cards and envelipes in the folder - I must remember to make another one before putting the folder away - and as soon as I've finished it, the lost one will turn up. Sure as eggs is eggs! Pop over to the BLOG and see this project and lots more ideas for using the fab June kit from Bubbly Funk, plus loads of other crafty ideas for making good use of all that stash.

Sketchy!

2009-06-24T15:19:00.005+01:00

I've added this new sketch to my Sketch File Blog
I used a tall thin mini DL card to make my first card using the sketch.

The papers I've used on this card are the lovely Pompeii collection from Dream Street Papers I just love the colours and designs in this set.

I reverted to my favourite 14cm square card to make a second version. This one is a commissioned ard which I've left almost to the last minute - no change there, then!

More Dream Street Papers for this one - this time the Rue collection.
Instead of the squares I've used some Cuttlebug hearts, cut from paper covered chipboard, the large word is cut with the Craft Robo, gorgeous satin ribbon from Ribbon Oasis, and I've added some hints of red to lift the browny shades a bit.

Now I just need to get it in the post to my customer in time! I hope she likes it. I hope you do to.

I'd love you to join in and have a go at my sketches, I try to add a new one every week or so and the older ones are all there for you to play with and add your links any time you like.

Thanks for popping by

Missing You

2009-06-19T10:37:00.003+01:00

Over at The Daring Cardmakers Lythan is feeling sad because her lovely daughter is going to be away for the weekend and Lyth is already missing her. awwww. So we were asked to make cards with the sort of message that says "I Miss You" , "I'm Thinking of You", "Just to Say I Care" and that sort of thing.
These are the sort of "Just Because" cards that I always mean to make and send more often, but I never get round to. I feel bad about that because I know what a lovely thing it is to receive a card that comes through the letterbox for no reason other than to say "Hello"

Well, I today I highlighted the "Missing You" theme by missing the 10am Go Live time for the dare. Ooops!
This was because the card I made yesterday was just a catalogue of errors and I had to do a different version this morning.

The card incorporates a bookmark, which has the main message for the card on the reverse
I've used MME "Pretty Please" papers, a Cuttlebug die to cut the little flowers, tiny gems from Anita's Gem Wheel and some Stickles glitter glue.

The first effort ended up a DL card because I failed to measure and cut the bookmark down to fit the original card I made (fundametal error, that one, eh?)
I had stuck all the flowers and gems on by this time so couldn't just lop a bit off.
The next problem was that I made it too bulky for the laminator to cope with and it's gone all wrinkly - so I now have a new bookmark, albeit a wrinkly one!

I've not had the lamintor long - this is only my second atempt at using it - so I was experimenting a bit too. I had some space in the laminator pocket so put some Prima flowers in too - I've used them to make the dangles for the bookmark., along with some threads, fibres and buttons.
I do love this Cosmo Cricket paper, but I really struggled to figure what to do in that long empty space on the right side of the card. In the end I resorted to making some "tiles" from different designs of the patterned paper adhered to faux chipboard then I trimmed the corners with my "Round it-All" and gave them a layer of Glossy Accents

I've not plucked up the courage to laminate the 2nd version of the bookmark yet. I think it'll be ok as I've fairly sure it was the flowers on the first that were the problem - it wasn't a good idea to cut the flowers from card, and then add more card layers for the centres - I knew that really, but somehow couldn't stop myself!

Hey, you live and learn.

Adding the Pretty Stuff

2009-06-18T10:03:00.006+01:00

Last week on Bubbly Funk's emag I made a wallet-folder type thing which I plan to fill with some cards to make a gift for someone at C-word-time.
I left it looking like this:

All a bit boring really, so it definitely needed a bit of "prettifying" or "tarting-up"
I used more papers and chipboard (that gorgeous swirly-scrolly-leafy thing and one of the set of peony flowers) from Bubbly Funk's delicious June kit plus some of my own stash (you see, I do use the stuff I buy and hoard,...eventually) to decorate the front of the folder.

My next task wil be to make something to fill the pockets inside with, but that'll be another week's project.
If you've never visited Bubbly Scrumptious before, you're missing out on a fab crafty magazine. There are new projects most days and they're building up into quite a library - ideas for fabulous scrap pages, books, albums, wall-hangings, cards - all sorts of things which can't fail to inspire your creativity - definitely worth grabbing a coffee before you start browsing!
That's my advert for the day.

Thanks for visiting

Tea Time Treats

2009-06-17T15:11:00.006+01:00

Glanced out of the kitchen window a little while ago to see one of the greenhouses lying across the patio. It's one of those temorary ones - a frame that slots together and then the plastic cover goes over the top and ties on. This one is quite tall which doesn't help when its blowing a gale out there like today,
Fortunately there's not an awful lot of plnats in it at the moment, just a few of my sunflowers that are still waiting to be planted outside - but now there are less! Some were planted up in my nice terracotta pots though and now I've got less of those too :(

Took me ages to put everything to rights and clear up the mess. Flipping greenhouse kept trying to escape all the time I was trying to ram enough bricks and ballast in there to hold it down, too. Ungrateful contraption.
I've wedges the bin beside it now in the hope of making it stay put.

Last year I planted a couple of peonies in the garden. One is yet to start flowering but the other is looking fab - though not sure it'll still be so pretty after today! Fortunately I took some photos earlier in the week.

This week I've been busy working with the DT set for the new Crafty Templates collection. This month there are cupcakes, teapots, butterflies, picture frames and a whole lot more. Even though I don't actually like strawberrie, I love Leo's strawberry cupcake template!

I decided to use it alongside the cute teapot template to make this Teatime Treats" card.

I've used one of the papers from the Crafty Goodies Kit to make the border and the lettering is made with rub on letters from several sheets. I thought the cake really needed a plate to sit on, so I cut one in white using Mr Robo, then cut a rim for it by placing a smaller oval inside the first and cutting in red to match the strawberries.
Here's a close up

I've got more Crafty Template cards to share, but I'll save them for another time;) so that's all for today
please come and visit again soon

Breaking Free

2009-06-15T12:15:00.004+01:00

My fave paper manufacturer of the moment seems to be My Mind's Eye. I can't stop buying their stuff at the moment. Last week I showed on here some cards made using the gorgeous "Pretty Please" collection, this time it's "Breaking Free" - which are just soooo summery and delish - totally irresistable.
I love the colour mix on these papers - and the designs are fab - a great set of florals, stripes, spots and fun stuff.

I made the flower for the above card just by cutting out some of the images from one of the floral papers, inking the edges, then pinching up the petals to add some dimension
I just adore the scalloped edge cardstock ice-cream design - it'll make a wonderful scrapbook LO (well, it would if I was a "proper" scrapper, anyway!). I'm going to have to buy another sheet, so that I can have a go at making a page because as soon as I saw the design, I knew what I wanted to do with it. Ijust had to use it as a background and make a Robo template of an ice-cream cone to match.
I searched and searched for the "right" colouring page to use to make a template, but none of them were quite what I wanted, so I used the best one, then used it as a guide to "draw" exactly what I wanted using Paint Shop Pro
I'm quite pleased with the finished template, I think I'll make some more summer-themed shapes in the hope that the last two days of blazing hot sunshine weren't just a fluke!

last week Hubby had to go to Middleburg, Holland for some meetings. I don't think he enjoyed the journey very much, mind you, if they'd planned it better it wouldn't have been so bad! nuff said!
Anyway, oooh I thought, what would be a good present he could bring back for poor Wifey left behind. Lots of diamond merchants in Holland, aren't there....

I did get a present.

Would you like to see it?

ah well....... :) :) :) :)
Thanks for visiting

Some Like it Hot!

2009-06-12T09:46:00.002+01:00

Another Daring Cardmakers' Day and another little challenge, this time it's Keryn's turn to set the dare:

Hi it's Keryn here this week and in New Zealand we're in the middle of winter. Not snow like some of you get but we think it's cold all the same. I want to see card creations using only sizzling hot yellow based colours like red, orange and yellow to send some heat out to us through the web.

Well, it's not so hot over here in the UK at the moment. I heard them on the News the other day saying we were in what is called the European Monsoon!!!! Just when you thought they couldn't come up with another excuse for rubbish weather, they hit us with that one.
Not sure what they are planning to call all the rain we have at other times of the year.....

Anyway, the sun is shining this morning so maybe we're in for a better weekend.

As is getting to be a habit, I struggled to come up with an idea for with this one.
Eventually I thought I'd have a go at something new and have a bash at a "slider" card.

I used the same Sunny Face Robo template that I made for last week's dare, and also used the Robo to cut the slot it moves along.

I don't think its quite right yet though as it doesn't move as smoothly as I think it should.

I'm not sure if its because the slot is too narrow, the gap between the upper and lower card pieces isn't high enough, or the gap between the two discs isn't deep enough. I'll have to experiment some more!

I was very brave ;) and did some paper mixing here!
Papers used are from K&Co Berry Sweet, MME Breaking Free, and a yellow one I can't remember which was way to acidic looking so I oranged it up with some inking.

The DT cards should help warm you up nicely for this challenge, so do head over to The Daring Cardmakers Blog and check them out - we do love to pop in and visit your blogs, so please leave a message if you make a card for this dare, so we can come and see what you've made

My crafty task for today is to finish at least some of the half-made cards I started while trying desperately to think of something to do for the DCM!
I'm also looking at the DT set of Crafty Templates which arrived in my mailbox this week and trying to decide how to use them. I know what you're thinking...Life can be soooo hard, can't it.... lol!

Another Andrea Victoria Project

2009-06-11T11:12:00.005+01:00

As usual on a Thursday its my turn toadd a project to Bubbly Scrumptious, the shop blog for Bubbly Funk.
I've been using the June kit which is based around the lovely MME Andrea Victoria collection.
The kit options are available HERE, some are sold out already but there are still some options in stock.
Its very unlike me, but I've been thinking about the C Word (you know the one....) and wondering if there's anything I could make to give as gifts.
This week I've done the first part of a folder-wallet type thing which I plan to fill with some notecards or greetings cards - it would work for hand-stamped notepaper etc too. There's nothing new really - you've all seen things like this in the shops, but if you'd like to have a go at making a truly personal version to feill with your own cards then maybe you'll enjoy this project.

My wallet starts like this:
Eventually you end up with something like this - all ready to be decorated

Inside it looks like this, with the pockets ready to be filled with more goodies

You can find out all the info by visiting the Bubbly Scrumptious emag. You'll find masses of other projects using the various Monthly Kits, (new) Page Kits and mini special Kits all created by our dedicated Design Team - well, I would say that, wouldn't I :) lol

Right, I've got a few half-made cards sitting on my desk, and a dcm card to make for tomorrow which hasn't even developed into so much as a germ of an idea yet! I suppose I'd better see if I can hatch something!

Pretty Please

2009-06-09T12:27:00.003+01:00

Well, I eventually managed to stop procrastinating yesterday and settle down to making some cards.
I've somehow managed to be enticed into buying quite a few new sets of papers recently - not quite sure how that happens, but it does. Maybe you know....

Anyway, going through the boxes that were stacked by my desk was like getting the parcels all over again, and hopefully they'll all get a turn to be used over the next few days.

First out of the boxes came a gorgeous pack of paper by My Minds Eye called "Pretty Please"

I made these 3 cards using some of the designs, but I don't want to use too much because I feel a mini-book coming on....hahaha

All papers used are from the MME Pretty Please paper pack

Base card is 12x12cms embossed with CBug "Swiss Dots" folder
Scroll & Flower Centre; Spellbinders Flourish Accent die set
Rub On: BG Wholly Cow "Thank You" set
Flower: Prima

Ovals; Spellbinders scalloped Ovals set
Punched flowers
Tiny buttons
Tiny gems; Anita's Gem Wheel
Rub Ons: Maya Road

Everything here is made with paper from the paper pack with the exception of:
Tiny buttons coated with Stickles
Rub On letters: Maya Road

Hopefully I'll get crafting again today now that I've put the P word away for a while! Thanks for dropping in today, I hope you'll come back soon

Procrastination Round Up

2009-06-08T10:34:00.005+01:00

Yes, its one of those days again - the sort when I have a list of things to do, but will do anything else but knuckle down to them....Actually the whole weekend was a bit like that.

So Procrastination no1: A Bit of Waffle
Saturday was quite busy what with one thing and another, but Sunday was an empty day - and it was absolutely bucketing down so no guilty feelings of "I should be doing something in the garden" to prevent a nice long-lie-in! Lovely - the perfect Sunday morning!

Once I'd finally dragged myself out of bed I thought I'd do some crafting; I've a few birthday cards to make a start on and a commissioned wedding anniversary card. I'm ahead on DT projects for Bubbly Funk and the new stuff for other DTs hasn't arrived yet so I have some free crafting time at my disposal.

So what did I make?

Nothing. Zilch. Nowt!

Procrastination no2: Sorting is always Good for it

I looked at the stack of pizza boxes fo new paper stacked by the desk - and the stuff just lurking in bags propped up by the shelves and thought it might be a good thing to have a tidy up and a clear out.
When I say "clear-out" I really mean "move some of it to a place where I can avoid seeing it", as in avoid a proper clear out - which is really another bit of Procrastination

I re-labelled the boxes that live on my shelves but as I'm always moving the contents around depending on which company is producing more stuff that I like and needs more space in the boxes, I decided that little acetate pockets would be a good idea.

The pockets are fixed to the boxes with clear parcel tape and I made some tags with the names of the companies on them just to slip inside the pockets.
I know my storage system isn't purpose made and flash like some peoples' is, but it suits me - at least until I find something better!

Procrastination no3: One Thing Leads to Another...
I know the tags look a bit of a mess - I think I need to do them on the pc instead of putting up with my rubbishy scrawl - now that the boxes look tidy, I'm finding the tags quite offensively tatty!
So how fab - another little bit of procrastination dreamed up with very little effort. Will I resist? I'm trying to, honest! You'll know - because I'll have something new to blog tomorrow if I do!

Something I've not got round to blogging is this little gift card wallet that I made to present Aimee's main present for her 18th in. We decided that as she's the first of our batch 0f 8 Nieces/Nephews to hit 18 it would be a good idea to think of something we could roll out for each of them as they reach the milestone birthday. So we're going to give them Premium Bonds.

I made this wallet roughly following a You Tube tutorial suggested by Joanne when we did a "Relaxed Mini Cyber-Crop" on a forum the other week.
I must admit I didn't follow the instructions properly and went off on a bit of a tangent but there's nothing new there!

The front of the wallet looks like this
Inside you find a little holder for the gift card - they are meant for the sort of credit card style gift cards you get from places like WH Smiths, but the idea would be easy to tweak for other types of vouchers or tokens.
The gift card fits into a little slotwhich is disguised by adding a circle for a message, or as I've done the addition of a flower sahpe cut from the paper

The papers are lovely - they're "The Cotton Shop" by 3 Bugs and I love the unusual and striking colour combo.

Making the little gift card gave me the perfect excuse to use my new laminator for the first time!
I downloaded the logo of the NS&I, printed it out, stuck it on a piece of the paper, printed out our message for the other side then put the whole thing through the laminator.

I think everyone will be getting something like this come the time of the "C-Word" - mainly because its such fun doing the laminating bit!

Well, this particular bit of procrastination must end, I suppose, so I'll Love You and Leave You till the next time,
Thanks for calling by....

Whether the Weather....

2009-06-05T09:48:00.005+01:00

Daring Cardmakers Day today and its Jo's turn to set our dare. So we can blame her for our waking up to a rainy one instead of the sunshine we've had lately hehehe
Actually it has its compensations as with luck I won't need to go out to water the veg plot and the various pots today - and even better, it might mean a calmer hayfever day too - although if the pile of tissues I've already got through this morning is anything to go by.....

So, just in case you hadn't surmised from that, Jo's challenged us to make cards on a theme of "Weather".

I asked if it was ok if I used my rainy one from the "Wet Wet Wet" dare of a couple of weeks ago and got a short, sharp "No" - huh, you can go off people, you know! lol lol lol
Not really - Jo's a sweetie and a great friend so I know I can pull her leg a bit.

Still, it did stump me as to what I could do that was different. I couldn't decide what sort of weather to put on my card and I couldn't figure out what sort of purpose it would be for. In the end I decided to go with one of my favourite little rhymes and put various types of weather on the card!
Everything fell into place then. Using the same pop-up card I've made a couple of times lately seemed the perfect way to add the verse and all the springy weather icons - and most of those were pretty quick to do as I already had the die cuts or Robo templates ready.
The umbrella is from my "Wet Wet Wet" card, but I paired it with wellies from one of Leo's old Crafty templates sets, The sun is a new template but was really quick to make and the snowman is a QK die cut.
The "hello" letters are a new template but very basic so not much tweaking was needed.

The card itself is my UK sized version of THIS fantastic You Tube video tutorial. It looks complicated but it really isn't and once you've got the hang of how it works I think this is one that offers great scope for all sorts of cards. If you'd like to see the other cards I've made using it, and see my instructions for making a version equal to a 14cm square card, click HERE please come and let me know if you have a go, I'd love to see your cards.

When it's flat it looks like this - all ready to go into a regular envelope

I took this photo with the card half-opened so you get a better idea of how it works. The maind part of the card with all the folds in it sort of squishes down to make a box shape and the flat piece with the words on is revealed.

I think the spotty paper is by Piggy Tales, The snowman is cut from glitter card and the other bits are all scraps of Bazzill. The faux zigzag stitching is a pretty good copy of how my machine zigzag looks - I can't sew a straight line for toffee. lol. No flowers and no Glossy Accents - there's a shock, eh?

The DT have made some fantastic cards to share on the DCM Blog this week, so please check them out - and you can meet our fabby new Guest Designer too. We are very lucky to have the lovely Pascale joining us for the whole of June, she's been a regular DCM darer for quite a while so it's especially fab to welcome her onto the DT. We're always on the lookout for guest designers and joining in with the dares is a great way to get noticed!

Right, I've got loads to get one with today, so I'd better stop waffling and make a start. Thanks for popping by, please leave a comment before you leave.
Happy Crafting

Bubbly Stuff and More Photos

2009-06-04T09:27:00.007+01:00

As we were away last Thursday I didn't do anything for my usual slot on Bubbly Scrumptious blog, but I'm back this week with a card project that uses the new June kit from Bubbly Funk.
The kit is based around the lovely Andrea Victoria collection from My Mind's Eye which is full of beautiful designs and a lovely, unusual colour scheme of greys, white and golds.

I wanted to get ahead and make a card for my aunt's best friend, who is also a customer of mine - she orders special cards from me for other people, so I thought that as she has a special birthday coming up it would be nice for her to be on the receiving end for a change.

All the info and instructions for this card are over on the Bubbly Scrumptious BLOG, and the June kit is available now from HERE

Now a few more photos from our Northumberland jaunt.
We didn't spend as much time on the coast this time as we usually do so if you'd like to see some of our photos from last year you can click here
Anyway, here are some of the new ones - some are mine but the best ones are Hubby's and he was having a lovely time playing with his new Canon 40D, bought the day before we left!

The first three were taken in and around Blyth

The beach huts is one of mine - I know that because I can see hubby over there on the sand deciding what angles he wants to play with!

This one is Hadston Sands - a huge beach near my favourite Druridge bay - which we didn't get to this visit. boohoo :(

Next one of Hubby's arty shots, taken up the coast at Budle Bay

St Mary's Lighthouse is on a tiny island - there's a causeway that you can walk over at low tide

I'd never been to Seaton Sluice before - well not that I can remember. It's hard to believe that somewhere with such an ugly name could actually look so pretty!

And eventually, on the last evening we even made it across the road from my Aunt's house to Newbiggin prom. That's a disgraceful admission, but we were so busy this trip that we almost didn't get a walk along my "home" sands!

I'm going to sort out photos with a "Roman" theme for next time.

Hope you're not getting bored with my piccywics yet!
Thanks for popping by, don't go without leaving a comment - I do love to see them!

Castles and Craft

2009-06-02T11:14:00.007+01:00

I'll show the Accordion album I made for Aimee's 18th in a minute, but first another batch of pics from our recent trip to Northumberland - today is all about castles!

I love castles, I guess its not surprising as I grew up in Northumberland which is stuffed full of them! My most favourite is Warkworth Castle - I spent so much time there when I was little - being only a few miles from home it was the perfect playground for us kids - there's a fantastic, fairly intact Keep with lots of rooms to explore, there are towers and tunnels and all sorts of nooks and crannies - no trip "home" goes by without a visit to Warkworth - occasionally we don't even go inside - just sit in the car park and check on it from there -I know that sounds a bit mad, but I need my "fix" even if there's not time to head inside. We've been members of English Heritage since we got married so we get in all their properties for "free" and there are so many fab places to visit - especially "up north". Our holidays and weekend aways tend to start with checking out the EH guidebook to see whats on offer in the area.
Anyway, nop photos of Bamburgh Castle from this visit - we drove through the village a couple of times on our way up the coast and honestly, the place was STUFFED! I know it's lovely there, but who wants to be like a sardine in a tin when there's so much more coast and countryside that you can get pretty much to yourself? We didn't even stop the car....
First - and especially for Ruth, Prudhoe Castle;
Right up towards the borders is little Etal Castle - we had a picnic lunch here and it was soooo peaceful. Last time we were there, a guy was doing a falconry display and it was fab - he flew two birds at the same time and watching them swoop over the castle walls and down over our heads was amazing. This time Hubby and my Uncle spent ages trying to catch photos of the swallows that are roosting in the castle ruins
Even closer to the border (I think) we visited Norham Castle for the first time - hard to believe that there are still castles I've not been to up there! Norham's a bit TOO close to the Scottish border for my taste - I just don't go there - it ALWAYS, without fail, throws it down with rain whenever I do. I'm not exagerating either! lol

I saved the best for last - and I've managed to hold myself back - only three photos!
I'm preety sure that between us we've taken more photos at Warkworth than of any other single place - it's funny but nearly all of our Warkworth photos have fab skies too - a few years ago we were there in December - there was a thick frost on the ground and it was perishing cold - but the sky was beautiful and we took some of our favourite photos on that occasion.
As it's so close to "home" Warkworth tends to be our Sunday morning venue - just time to get there and back, and have a little explore while my aunt is cooking Sunday lunch! The other good thing about going then is that there are fewer other visitors and there's more chance of getting people-free photos!
Beautiful, isn't it?

I'm really struggling to get my crafty mojo going since we got home - and I really need to as I've got loads to do.
As I've failed to show the book I made for Aimee despite mentioning it a few times I'm going to do that now, before I forget again!
I made this for Beckie Dreyer's Bumbleberry Crafts Limited Edition kit - it's full of the bruight and funky 3 Bugs "Butterfly Kisses" papers, plus perfectly matching card (some is coredinations), ribbons, brads and buttons etc

It's an Accordion Album and sturdy enough to stand up on its own to display the photos Aimee will be able just to slot in under the flaps, corners and ribbons.
This is the front of the book
This is one side of pages
And this is the other side

The back of the book looks like this:

It's a really lovely kit and I think there are still a couple available - you can find out more HERE and contact Beckie there or via Bumbleberry Crafts.

Right, I've procrastinated long enough. I need to go and find that mojo.....or maybe I'll just make a coffee first....or I could do another load of washing.....or....

Belsay Photos

2009-06-01T11:40:00.004+01:00

We were up in Northumberland for a few days with my rellies last weekend/ I promise I won't bore you with zillions of pics but here are a few of Belsay Hall, gardens and castle.
The rhododendrons were in flower and looking glorious as were the various acers (a fave tree of ours - though the ones on our own garden are a little bit smaller!) - the walk through the craggy gardens from the Hall to the old castle was a real treat - and, when we arrived there - another treat to find suspended from the rafters the fabulous Crystal Horse by Stella McCartney back at Belsay, hanging from the rafters on fine threads and looking magnificent - over 8000 Swarovski crystals went into making this!
That's ooooh, at least a few more than I've got in my bead collection....lol

Just Take Five!

2009-05-29T10:10:00.001+01:00

Every now and then, rather than one of the team thinking up the challenge for the Daring Cardmakers, we all put our heads together and come up with some ideas to use as "Team Dares". This week we've decided to make use of one of these ideas and have a challenge called "Take 5" for you.
All you need to do this week is make sure you have five of something on your card; it could be circles, brads, tags, candles, elephants, whatever you like is fine - just as long as there's five of them. Surely you can't get much easier than that?

I've just come back from a few days up in Northumberland with my rellies, so didn't have a lot of time to get my card done - so I decided to use the latest sketch on my Sketch File Blog (I'd love to have you join in with the sketches on there, btw!) to help me out here - a double hit as I'd not got round to making a card for that sketch before I loaded it.

Obviously, for me it had to be five flowers, didn't it?......and as I'm still loving making "distressed" poppies that's what I chose to use on my card.

It also took the chance to use some of my new Cosmo Cricket papers - I know they aren't a new range, but for some reason I've never got round to buying this set despite looking at them zillions of times. When I saw them in the Scrap Revolution shop last week at a reduced price - well, I had to buy them, didn't I?
I just adore the colours of this "Love Notes" collection - they are similar to the BG Fusion ones which are some of my all-time favourites, so not surprising really that they've always appealed.

I used my one and only Fiskars edging punch to cut the scalloped edge in the base paper, then matted the second paper between.The oval shapes are cut with Nesties - not really getting the hang of these yet, for some reason... I cut two slits at the end to tie the ribbon through which meant I could just glue the long piece on nice and flat.
To make my five flowers I punched two sizes of circle, I didn't bother with the distressing tool this time - spritzing with water and crumpling them up seemed to do the trick - I didn't ink the edges either as the white core helps the flowers stand out on the card.

I used a mixture of two and three circles for the flowers and added a tiny gem in the middle. I bought another Anita's gem wheel while I was away, this time with the 3mm gems in it. Got that, some posh black brads and a couple of Cats Eye Queues at fab prices at Boundary Mill - didn't get anywhere near any other craft-type shop during our trip though. I think it was a conspiracy!

The words are Robo cut in two different fonts - I can't remember what the first one is, but "wishes" was cut from the Liorah font. I thought I'd write a seperate blog post to say how I do my Robo words - It's in the post directly below this one - I hope someone will find it useful.

Anyway, please pop over to The Daring Cardmakers Blog and see what other members of the Team have made this week - we're a bit depleted this week due to holidays, house-moving and other stuff that Real Life tends to throw at us from time to time, but the cards are still just as lovely and hopefully just as inspiring as usual!