A Wedding.......Or Two

Hi. I'm sure you've noticed that today marks the occasion of a very important wedding. Imagine my suprise when on 'the big clear up' I realised that another wedding took place on the very same day 29 April ...........in 1920. 

 I happened to take a peek at my scrapbook albums (when I was supposed to be tidying up) and came across a layout I'd made when taking the Create 10 workshop by Crafty Templates.

How pleased I am that I decided to do some tidying I'd have been very disappointed if I'd discovered this coincidence next week.

Enjoy your day if you're joining in with celebrations. I shall be toasting my Great Grandparents.

A Spring Clean

Hi. Did you have a good Easter? I've been enjoying the fantastic warm weather. Amazing, normally even the sniff of a Bank Holiday is enough to send the weather into decline but not this year. I have to keep reminding myself it is only April.

So what with being out and about in the sunshine I haven't had much time for crafting but I did find time to try out this brilliant technique that Julie shared last week. If you visit her post at It's a Creative World here you will find her step by step tutorial showing you how to make your own photo booth style card using stamps.

I'd just bought these cute stamps by Prima and was wondering how to use them. They had a kind of wintery Christmas feel so I thought that using them with this technique would make a great Christmas card..........one down, only another - how many?? to go.

Last week saw another technique 'first'. Not in crafting but in baking.......

I made some soda bread. I was so suprised at how easy and tasty it was. I'll definitely be trying it again courtesy of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's classic recipe.

And today as the weather has turned more seasonably cooler I spent the morning tidying my craft room, a job long overdue. When you have that just been burgled look and can no longer see your desk and floor is rapidly disappearing you know it's time for a clear up.

In the great tidy up I came across my small collection of printer blocks that I bought many years ago, long before they popular. You can tell just how long ago as there are some 80's hairstyles amongst them. They are now safely housed on my 'altered' shelf along with my £2.00 wooden bargain they are standing on. It was reduced as it had lost all it's drawers and is now awaiting a bit of altering. Shame the blocks can't all fit inside. 

Next to this I've sorted part of my craft book selection.

....and when I'd finally got my all my canvases in one location it appears I have quite a few awaiting transformation. Ooops

I have more tidying to do and I'm not sure it will last but at least I can now see my craft desk. Think I'll just look at the tidy bit.

Happy creating.

Absolutely Fabulous

Hi are you enjoying the lovely Spring weather still?

I've created a blooming tag inspired by recipe #34 at Chicken Soup. I first embossed the tag with roses and painted it with some pink craft paint followed by distress crackle in picket fence. The twine is twisted paper string which I coloured with shabby shutters distress ink and I made more of the paper flowers that I love so much finished with pearl centres.

I had a paper flower left over so after having a play with the Silhouette I cut out a frame and a bird on a branch by House of Three.

It's hard not to be tempted when visiting the online Silhouette shop and I downloaded these two files at different times but it struck me that they would look perfect together and make a great card.

I cut all the elements for the 'party chica' onto plain white cardstock and coloured them using promarkers and for her sunglasses added a touch of glossy accents. The other file was 'fabulous stacker'.

.....absolutely fabulous.

Spring Breeze

Hi I hope you have been able to enjoy some of the glorious Spring weather we've been having. The challenge this week at Chicken Soup seemed very appropriate and inspired me to make this card.

 I splodged some blue acrylic paint as my background and used my new Craftwork Cards template to cut out the branch and owl. I decided against using the spotty yellow paper when I spied a paint chart that I'd picked up for crafty purposes. It turned out to be just the thing especially as the colours were entitled Spring Breeze in various shades of yellow and made the perfect blossom. And in case you're wondering that's a sock monkey cut out of the spotty paper.

...and I can't go without sharing this picture with you

It is actually a card that I picked up at the weekend from one of my favourite shops (I can't share a link as they haven't joined the 21st century and don't have a website). The card is called 'Clever Cat'. I had the perfect sized frame to put him into, it's a bit used and battered but it was worth using it as he makes me smile every time I catch sight of him in my kitchen. You can't see it very well in the photo but the picture has a very eye catching glittery background.

Has the Spring weather been inspiring your crafting too?

A Bit of Warm Sun

Hi. Over at Kim Klassen Cafe it's Texture Tuesday so I thought I'd be brave and join in. I'm still on the basics but learnt absolutely loads from Kim's Skinny Mini class. So to help continue my learning process I signed up to her texture lovin list to get some tips and freebies straight to my inbox.

A couple of weeks ago the free texture was WarmSun and this weeks challenge was to use at least one layer. I used one of my holiday snaps, ok it already had warm sun......but what the heck.

Then I tried another...

There is something very addictive about altering photos.....

Happy Mother's Day

Hi. Where has the time gone since my last post? In between craft sale preparations, having a birthday, work, shopping, trying to tidy up and dealing with the post holiday washing pile a week went by in a blink of an eye.

I did find time to peruse the Silhouette site and found these fab little envelopes.

And so to this weekend. Today in the UK we are celebrating Mother's Day so to add to my list of things to do I'd decided sometime ago to make a bag for my Mum. I found the perfect colour fabric in the form of some linen napkins in a charity shop.......but I don't think you'd guess that is what it is made from, would you? I know for sure she'll like the colour. For the card I downloaded some pretty birds on a wire and cut them out of some textured self adhesive paper along with the sentiment.

I also spotted this jug which I thought would be perfect for my Mum to mix a sangria in now that she can look forward to warmer days and evenings in her garden. I printed out a recipe and popped it inside. If we should return to the cold and chilly hopefully the rose and peony scented candle will remind her that Summer will soon be on it's way.

And today to complete my Mother's Day meal I'm making this so let's hope it is 'golden'.....

Nigella doesn't normally let me down so fingers crossed.