"It's late, my love.....

.............he whispered. That's enough scrapbooking for one night....it's time for bed."

Anyone else own this stamp? I've had it a while and it made me smile the first time I saw it.

Even though I've felt the need to scrapbook recently I haven't neglected sewing. In my January Month In Numbers I mentioned that I was awaiting delivery of Zakka Style and  when it arrived it was hard to choose what to make first as there are so many lovely projects. They aren't complicated advanced projects, as the cover says - 24 projects stitched with ease to give, use and enjoy. 



But I settled on a linen pouch bag with my own addition of using the quote stamp. I used some versacraft ink to stamp with which was then heat set and die cut with a label nestabilities die.

I really like the look of the sewing kit on the front cover so I don't think it will be the last thing I make from the book.
.....and in other sewing news. I've finished the Trapeze Dress in the sleeveless version. In fact I finished it a few weeks ago but I've been working up to posting a photograph of myself wearing it.

I'm not happy but I wanted to prove that I actually finished it so I asked my Mum to take a snap when she invited me to lunch on my birthday last month. I'm going to make a version with sleeves next, not sure I'll be taking a photo though ;-)

The Joy of Doodling

In one of Dina Wakley's recent blog posts she shared her creative jumpstart video did you see it? If you didn't you should. I do think that to be creative you have to create and it doesn't really matter how or why but for me to do it regularly is important. So when I spotted this little journal I thought it would be the perfect place to practice some of Dina's warm up tips....that and it was red......and I loved the cover.

I also ordered 100 really cheap kraft luggage tags as practice fodder and today they arrived.

There was no plan to what I did and they are nothing spectacular but once I'd inked, spritzed, painted and stamped I felt like a bit of doodling. It felt good to spend a happy half hour just creating with whatever was at hand.

There is something quite soothing about repetitive doodling. The background of the journal is all the mopped up bits of ink and paint from when I made the tags.

Watch Dina's video as I'm sure it will make you want to create too.

The Bees Knees

Hi. Are you enjoying the sunshine? With a bit of warmer weather the bees start stirring.......

Hexagons seem to be everywhere at the moment and as you know I think they are the bees knees. Cut from a vintage sheet in shades of yellow they reminded me of honeycomb. Teamed with a bee stamp and a hand stitched phrase an idea formed for some fabric tags for a swap I signed up to over on UK Scrappers 

They are not the only winged project I've been working on. I made these butterflies to send to Deb for the Butterfly Project I hope they reach her in time to make her target of collecting 51 butterflies by her birthday. They will soon be on their way to Arizona.

I cut them from some canvas and then got messy with some paint and ink finished off with a bit of doodling.

Enjoy the sunshine.

There is sunshine in my heart

Hi. Today I'm feeling a little hard done by. I should by here at Bluewater at the Creative Stitches and Hobby Crafts show oohing and ahhing at pretty fabrics and lusting after scrapbook supplies. Instead I'm not, I'm at home in the snow.

So, I'm trying to look on the bright side and joining Julie in her Month of Sunrays and created my own bit of sunshine.

You see I already have pretty fabrics and scrapbook supplies.....

......some more would have been nice though!

Cheerio - That's all for today from this little ray of sunshine.

Scrappy Cushion

What do you do with fabric scraps? If you're anything like me you can't bear to throw them away but what can you make from them? Is holding on to them really a practical idea? Well yes is the answer I pleased to say.

I happened upon this tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew for a Sprocket Pillow. You need only the smallest amount of fabric to cut the pieces. You might recognise some of those above from the bags I made. They are super easy to make and the tutorial does come with the warning that they are addictive and you'll find it hard to just make the one.

Welcome to my new obsession.

I love to combine my different crafty interests together in projects so I took the idea for the cushion a step further and decorated the inexpensive white fabric with some stamped designs. I used my favourite butterfly stamp, a new Kaisercraft grid and some bunting that came free with a magazine.

To stamp my designs I used a Versacraft fabric ink pad in black. All you need to do is heat set the design using an iron - simple.

Tip - Learning from the first one I made I marked where the centre of the back piece of fabric was so that it made it much easier to centre when sewing the button in place threading through to the back.

Some more ideas........

How about transferring a favourite photo or part of it on the plain sections.

Handstamping a message or sentiment for a special gift

Adding names, dates etc

Using up fabric remnants to match a quilt

Recycling a favourite item of clothing

........Go hunt out those scraps.

I made things

So after my last post I did it - I made things. 

 A pretty napkin flower which fills my wooden bowl. If you love flowers and blooms and the bigger the better then go and check these beautiful ideas at Made perfect if you're planning a wedding or summer party. My flower is made using the wallflower tutorial. I can see them springing up (or should that be blooming) all over my house.

I always have cards to make and this one was inspired by a design featured in the May edition of Craft Stamper magazine using the free stamp. I'd made the background some time ago and thought it would make a good background the balloon. I think I might some more backgrounds ready to go for when I'm stuck for an idea. This one is a mixture of book pages and stamped images all torn and stuck to a cardstock square before being gessoed.

Next week I'm off to Scrap-a-mia, am I excited? Just a little bit, not least because I get to see Sonja and Michelle. Everyone gets sent a die cut shape to make into a name badge. Mine just happened to be cut from canvas ideal for the addition of felt onto which I handstitched my name and added a bit of stitching around the edge. If you're wondering what the crushed olive reference is that's the group I've been put in, just so I don't forget. I wanted to try and fit some paper flowers on and they do - just. I found some felted balls that I'd made and added some seed beads to them and finally a couple of beeswax butterflies.

This week I was enticed into buying a chipboard spools kit from 3D Jean I love all things sewing related so I have a few ideas rattling around my head of how to use them. I couldn't wait to crack them open and this is my first one. The little stamped doll is part of a larger stamp that also came from 3D Jean but sold out pretty quick. I bought the large button recently from a local shop where the shop owner said he really didn't know what people were going to do with them as when he ordered them he had no idea they would be so large. I could barely contain my excitement at finding it and am kicking myself now for only buying the one ( I need a return visit). What am I going to do with it? It's going to be a brooch.

And lastly I found this book in a local second hand bookshop.

Weirdly, or maybe not so weirdly as it was published in the 70's I think I made something from this book when I was at Junior School. It has perfect patterns (and some not so perfect very non PC) to make using felt and I am in the process of making a cat although as it's made from green felt looks a little more like Kermit at the moment. I'll let you know how it turns out I'm hoping it becomes a bit more cat like.

Hang Out the Bunting

Hi I hope you've been enjoying all the celebrations I have :-) Bunting seems to have been everywhere and over at Chicken Soup this weeks inspiration also features bunting. I needed to make a birthday card so I thought that maybe a bit of birthday bunting was called for. It also tied in nicely with the cute Prima stamp that I wanted to use.

I hand cut and stamped all the bunting and created the sandy beach from torn coordination card.



I've also been doing a bit of sewing. Do you remember Stanley? I made him back in March and since then really enjoyed sewing with felt. I've been on the look out for more small projects to work on and there are some really wonderful creations at Nuno Life. I have attempted a couple of tiny cats and the reindeer are on my list of things to do.

Yesterday I was looking at a toymaking book I have from the 70s and all the patterns are printed on squared paper for you to scale up and transfer the pattern yourself. Could I adapt them to make a felt creation? Well there was only one way to find out........

You can tell just how tiny he is compared to the bucket which also features in the card photo. He measures just 5cm high. I need to see what else is in that book - Happy Crafting.

I love you more than cherry pie

Over at Simply Create there is currently a challenge based around this pretty inspiration board. The challenge? Make anything you like from fabric or paper using the colours and board as inspiration......The bonus? Well the best entry will win £100 of stash.  

......and so on a miserable wet and windy January morning I was inspired to make this.....

The 'I love you more than cherry pie' was handstamped onto the linen fabric with fabric ink and heat set. The inspiration really came from some hand felted balls I made for a Christmas project which I carefully dissected in half to make the cherries. On the inspiration board I loved the touches of soft pale blue so I thought I'd make a pretty label to finish.

As well as entering the challenge I think this heart is perfect as my January Monthly Make being hosted by Annie the Felt Fairy because as well as the felted cherries the leaves are also made of felt. (Can I just point out that you don't have to make something from felt to take part that is just my little homage to the Felt Fairy)

So if you would like to take part in either challenge the links are over in my sidebar. You never know you might get some inspiration too. Have fun.

Happy 1st Birthday

Yes today is my blog's 1st birthday. Since my first post  I've met some wonderful people on my blog travels and made some fantastic discoveries. Along the way I've been tempted into buying and inspired to take part in all kinds of challenges. I hope in the course of the next year I make yet more new discoveries.

I know one for sure as I've just signed up to Kim Klassen's free Photoshop Skinny Mini e-course which starts next month. I hope to learn something new........... or maybe that will be just learn.

To celebrate my first year of blogging I've returned to a bit of scrapbooking. Remember the Boden Stickers? Well I've created my first layout using one as the title of my page and as inspiration for my layout.

I also had the chance to use some of the Glitz papers that arrived this week that I'd been hankering after for ages. I blame both Sonja and Michelle for that little obession.

The journaling describes my first and last skiing trip.........

I have mixed feelings about my one and only skiing trip. I loved the experience of being at the top of the mountain it really did feel like being ON TOP OF THE WORLD my concern was how was I going to get down again on two skis.

I never felt convinced that skiing and me were a perfect match however many times my instructor told me I was doing fine.

It isn't an experience I'll be repeating but I'm glad I tried.

Papers used Glitz Hoopla Pipework

Bazill Cardstock

K & Co 'Thrilled' word sticker with 'NOT' added with tiny alphas

Spellbinders snowflake die

I've also enjoyed making some cards and an ATC this week after buying some really bargain stamps. I'm not sure I would have bought these stamps at their full price but at £1.50 I was tempted into trying them and have to say really enjoyed using them. They are called In The Groove by Inkadinkado. The background of the card is a lace distress stamp from Glitz which I LOVE thank you Michelle.

I will be having a birthday giveaway later in the week so I hope you'll join me - see you then.  



Bee creative on 4 on a Friday

I'm always up for trying something new on the crafting front and for a while I've been pondering the idea of digital. Is it something I'd enjoy? Would I even be any good at it? Would the creative process be the same?

I've admired Alexa's skill with digital for some time and yesterday she was kind enough to share some of her knowledge with a tutorial for placing a photo inside 4 frames. Right this was my chance - do it. I had a few hiccups to start with and I think Mr P was a bit worried about the amount of cursing that was coming from the laptop especially when his handy hints didn't help. I got so far and hit a brick wall but Alexa came to the rescue and after her help and encouragement I created this.

Now, you may be thinking what's all the fuss about but I feel a real sense of achievement at getting this far and I'm waiting for more handy tips so I can add some text at a later date (hint, hint). The frame is actually offset on a white background. I took the photo myself with a point and shoot in my garden and I must have had bees on my mind as this week I also created this.

After a clearing and sorting expedition (I blame Julie and her badges and I still haven't found them!) I came across some beeswax which I'd had for ages for some long forgotten craft project. I took a piece of mountboard and covered it in book pages and some poppy paper napkin. The 'for you' is stamped onto some calico. That's the great thing about using beeswax you can use just about anything and stamp some texture into it too. You can just about see the stamped bit highlighted with some perfect pearls. I had fun experimenting.

Finally if you do 'hop' over to Alexa's today you might see someone you recognise

Paris Inspired

This month's altered tag swap at UKS has famous landmarks and cities as it's theme. Well I couldn't pass up the opportunity to feature a bit of Paris........

I used some acrylic paint to paint the background and stamped a few leaves and of course the Eiffel tower, a paperartsy mini. I stamped a few extra leaves on some inked book pages and cut them out. When I visited Paris it was Autumn and there were lots of leaves on the pavements from the trees surrounding the Eiffel tower that's why I thought I'd add them to my tag.

I managed to fit in a trip to Le Temple Du Scrap and even made a layout dedicated to it. There was lots of map studying before I went so I could figure out where I needed to go........... quite a few stops on the Metro but I got there. 

........and fear not I didn't waste a trip to Paris without going to the top of the Eiffel Tower

.....a bit windswept when I got there but at least I'm smiling.

I can sing a rainbow

I made this card for the monthly challenge at The Artistic Stamper Creative Team blog. The theme for September is rainbows. I inked the edges of my textured card with  a touch of worn lipstick distress ink and stamped the lace onto some cardstock. I then cut it out before attaching it down one side of the card.

The rainbow background in the centre was created with some watercolour paper and neocolour pastels. The frame surrounding it was cut out using a circle and scalloped circle nestabilities die. I put a few drops of watermelon alcohol ink onto some acetate and stamped the butterfly sentiment with some black stazon. The acetate was attached to the frame and mounted on some foam pads for a bit of dimension. And lastly I stamped lots of butterflies and coloured them with promarkers in rainbow colours.

The butterfly sentiment is a favourite of mine and that along with the lace stamp are both available from The Artistic Stamper

The challenge is open until the 30th September if you fancy taking part.

Cupcake Inspirations

Now, I know my post yesterday mentioned cakes on my art journal page but I'm not obsessed -honest! And if my work colleague is tuning in she will back me up, I even said NO to a chocolate chip muffin today.
........however, I have found this inspiration challenge blog {Cupcake Inspirations} and who could fail to be inspired by yummy cupcakes. I chose to be inspired by this weeks cupcakes using the gorgeous colours and a seaside theme. Yes, that is a pink shrimp sweet you spy that I used as an embellishment - but that's another story which I'll share soon. If you think he looks a little freckled, he is! Unfortunately he was in the line of fire and got splattered with spray ink in another project. It happens! Well it does in my craft room ;-)

Unbelievable

Now I've chosen that post title I have that song going around my head, you know the one, EMF, 1990. No? I think maybe that song title thing has gone to my head :-) but it's definitely unbelievable that this is my 4th daily posting in a row.

Swiftly moving on, I said I would be back to share the butterfly hanging decoration I made so here it is. A similar idea to the other one but with paper die cut flowers rather than fabric and a stamped quote rather than the image. I prefer this one and my friend likes it too. At the weekend Sian awarded me this. I didn't know whether to be flattered or offended LOL but I thought it would be a fun way of passing on a couple of TRUE facts about myself. Of course the others are big whoppers and as they say - you decide.

• I've cycled the London to Brighton bike ride.
• I hate marmite
• At the age of 40 I have no fillings - and yes, I do go to the dentist regularly
• I have a degree in Civil Engineering
• I have achieved my ambition of seeing a humpback whale in it's natural habitat

I'll be back to enlighten you (if you're interested that is!) in the meantime I think maybe Sonja might be good at this - no I don't think she is good at telling fibs just very creative ;-)

Birds of a Feather

This month at Alter It Monthly the theme is Birds of a Feather. I have a really sweet bird stamp that I thought would be perfect - but how to use it?

I had loads (and I mean loads!) of offcuts from a framers. The particular one I chose to use is the middle of a photo mount so I suppose it is 'altered'. They are perfect for mixed media type work and being quite sturdy can take quite a lot of paint, pasting etc. I wanted a vintage feel to my finished hanging decoration so I covered the base in a book page and painted with cream acrylic. Next I stamped a few flowers in sepia and aged some lace ribbon. I built up my decoration with some die cut flowers from fabric and book pages and of course added my stamped bird image.

I liked doing it so much that I made a butterfly themed one for a friend but I'll share that later in the week.

Why not join in with the challenge you have until the end of the month so get creating.

Christmas Come Early

Now some weeks ago I promised you the christmas stamp I bought at the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking show so here it is. It's from Whiff of Joy Now I know it's only May but I have to take inspiration while it's there with Christmas cards. Normally come December I've either run out of time and in a mad panic to meet the posting deadlines or have throughly had enough and feel very unchristmassy. I coloured this when I was first trying to get to grips with promarkers so it's not by any means perfect but I like the colours. The strip down the side is glossy paper coloured with watermelon alcohol ink with a touch of silver mixative. The snowflake is cut using the Spellbinders Snowflake Wonder die.

Recently I have been introduced to digital stamping. Now I'll be honest I always thought that it wouldn't be for me but after discovering this lovely range I'm converted. It's called Pure Innocence and available to download from Etsy. If you like traditional stamping the range is also available as a stamp from Silly Monkey Crafts. Of course the advantage of a digital image is that you can print any size you like.

I really enjoyed altering my first matchbox for last months Alter It Monthly challenge and this week I made another. One of my colleagues owns the most pampered and lucky cat so I wasn't at all surprised when she told me that she was taking him for his manicure appointment later that day. So in tribute to Dudley here is my second altered matchbox. I hope he approves.....

Ever Increasing.... Butterflies

In response to my last post Sian made the brilliant suggestion that the butterflies would look great mounted in a frame. Well as it happens I had a frame that had been sitting around my craft room just waiting for some inspirational idea to come along...........What do you think?

It would make the perfect gift for a butterfly loving friend and the butterflies could be coloured in their favourite colours or to match decor or even stamped on some pretty paper.
Thanks Sian for your suggestion, all brilliant ideas gratefully received :-)

Last week at the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking show I bought an art doll stamp from B Line Designs. I'd been debating for some time as to whether to buy one or not but it was there right in front of me........so far I have only got around to stamping and colouring the image, she is still awaiting construction. I think the main body part would look good as a dressform on a card.

There were so many stamps to ponder at the show and my resistance was low, I'll share some more of those next time.Thank you too, to all of you who suggested a tutorial for the wreath - I'll get working on it. I'd love to share my idea with you and hopefully I'll have it ready soon.

An altered matchbox

It was great to find a new challenge blog this week. Alter It Monthly will be posting monthly challenges with a new challenge each month. To take part all you need to do is post a link to your project when you make a comment.

This months challenge is an altered matchbox. I used my new butterfly stamp from Stamps Away and the butterfly quote is from the Artistic Stamper. I wanted the butterflies inside the matchbox to look like specimens and I coloured them with promarkers and added a bit of stickles. The quote is inked and painted with distress rock candy crackle paint. This is the first matchox I've altered I think I may do some more.........

Birthdays Galore

This weekend was filled with birthdays, mine included. I have lots to show you so I won't waffle on..... At the end of last week a little package arrived in the post and as I thought there was a chance it could be birthday related I resisted the urge to open it. When I did it contained a gorgeous handmade card and needlecase from Sonja Visit her blog to see more of her card making. Although she says she is card newbie I think they are fab.

This is a birthday card I made for a friend using my new greetings farm stamps and promarkers.....not forgetting the cuttlebug........

Another birthday card and this time I made an envelope with a seal with the recipient's initial. You can't see on the photo but I gave her a see through plastic umbrella using glossy accents.

I made this picture hanger as part of her present as the birthday girl LOVES Johnny Depp. I thought the wool looked like his hair as the Mad Hatter.........

To try out all of my new stamps I thought I'd make some bookmarks. I do seem to have gone a little stamping mad and colouring in is very relaxing. It reminds me of when I was little and used to buy those colouring in pads with all the mad patterns. I can't remember what they were called..........

For my birthday I received some lovely handmade presents. This picture was painted by my godfather. It's a firework flower painted on papyrus.

......and I have some very generous friends and family you just know that boxes like these are going to contain some really lovely things.......

My Mum created for me a whole album of photo memories. Now, she makes lots of cards but doesn't normally scrapbook so I know how much time and effort she put into making this for me. My brother may just kill me for showing these photos but maybe he won't find out........My Mum also stitched a cross stitch picture which I forgot to take a photo of but it says " I may be creative but don't expect me to be tidy" Oh how well she knows me. Apart from the time it took to stitch I now know that it involved tracking down a copy of cross stitcher magazine all the way from the Hebrides.

..... and finally any celebration isn't complete without something to celebrate with (even if you're celebrating being 40). A Firkin of Seasider from a local brewers Gadds