May crafters companion blog challenge card

Hiya Everyone,

I can now post the card I made for this months crafters companion challenge blog. The theme is girls birthday so I decided to use this fab SWALK stamp which is called a little note which you can buy for yourself here. Check out the Crafters companion challenge blog yourself to be in with a chance to win a £30 gift voucher to use on the Crafter companion website.

If you read my previous post you will see that I've been sooooo busy so I haven't really had chance to make much so it's nice to be able to share this card with you. The papers are from DCWV Nana's nursery "girl" paperstack which I got ages ago from WH Smith. I still haven't used the "boy" one yet at all.

The image I coloured with my promarkers and the flowers are from wild orchid crafts - I added glamour dust to them for extra sparkle. The swirl flourish was one I had donated from Romayne who sent me lots a while ago. The sentiment stamp is one I've had for years.

I do have some crafters companion and Joanna Sheen samples to share which I'll get round to at some point. I am off out in a minute to go to the Windmill Craft Centre to organise what I'm doing for my next workshop. I think it will some of the new craftwork cards stuff which is fab!!! When I get back I will draw my April blog candy which is the forever friends pink parfait set and will list mays new blog candy too!

I will enter this card into the following challenges:-

Craft your passion - Layers
Stamping scrapping challenge - Anything goes
Scrap creations - Flowers
Party time tuesdays - Anything goes
My mums craft shop - Flowers
Ai Factory - Anything goes
Craft us crazy - Mothers day and/or flowers
Charisma cards - April showers/may flowers
Digi doodle - Anything goes
Moving along with the times - Anything goes
Papercrafting journey - Bling
Paper romance - Summer
Rubber cafe - Mothers day or special lady in your life
Crafts 4 eternity - Anything goes
Prairie fairy fridays - April showers bring may flowers
Fussy and fancy - Springtime
Inspire me fridays - Anything goes
Just add ink - Add a flower
Mami doodles - Let's get girly
Papercutz challenge - Anything goes
Phindys place - Glitter, glamour and glitz
Totally papercrafts - Glitter
Catch the bug - May flowers and pastel colours
Craft your days away - Music/dance
Ellephantastic - Birthday party
Totally gorjuss - Use 1,2,3
Crafty pad - Pearls and swirls
Creative cowgirls - Easter/spring/mothers day
Dream valley challenges - Flowers
Let's ink it up - Embellish it
Sentimental sundays - For special woman
Sparkles - Anything goes

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Moving house!!!

Hiya Everyone,

Massive apologies as it's been ages since my last post but I went away for a very long weekend away for easter and we have just bought a new house. The house we live in at the moment has only 3 bedrooms (One's our bedroom, one's my craftroom and the other is only a boxroom) which isn't anywhere near big enough for a growing family. The search is being done on tuesday so if all goes well we could be moving in a few weeks so I've been really busy trying to get everything sorted out. Our new house is a 4 bedroomed corner house so it has a nice big garden so it's ideal especially if we're hoping to have another baby within the next 12 months.
I've had some new Joanna Sheen samples to make and I've made my May Crafters Companion blog challenge card but apart from that I've been busy concentrating on the move. One of my priorities is to decorate my craft room at the new house then all my stuff can be moved quickly and easily from one to the other - fingers crossed!!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Joanna Sheen samples - Pressed flowers 6

Hiya Everyone,

Yet another of my samples from the new pressed flowers stamps from Joanna Sheen. I decided to make an easel card for this one just to mix it up a bit! Although I love square cards I don't want to send Joanna Sheen 9 square cards and try really hard to do a good mix of shapes and styles.

I used a scalloped card blank as my easel card base and the papers are actually a funky fairy digi paper that I printed onto white pearl card. The lilac paper is another download from funky fairy but it wasn't quite the right shade I was after so I coloured over it with my orchid promarker! The sentiment I printed out straight onto the white pearl paper (font is Harrington) and I used my sizzix scalloped oval die to frame it. I used the viola,pansy and leaf images from the stamp sheet and coloured them in with my promarkers. I was really pleased with how well they turned out as I haven't done lots lots of blending with 2 different colours. I cut the images out and layered them up for depth. I also added a butterfly (Martha stewart punch) to the corner as it felt a little empty and definately looked better with it!

I added a swirl of purple gems as there was naturally one in the design of the paper so I thought why not? Lol! I attached a basic sentiment to hold up the card and added a few more pansies to the base as I had some left over.

I will enter this card into the following challenges:-

Flourishes - Flowers
Passion for promarkers - Make your own embellishments
Tuesday throwdown - Bling and sparkle


Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Joanna Sheen samples - Pressed flowers 5

Hiya Everyone,

2 posts in a day - I'm doing well Lol! This is another of my Joanna Sheen samples made with the new pressed flowers stamp sheets. This card is made using the daisy set and I think it looks like clematis which is why I made a trellis style card. I stamped out the image several times and coloured them in with my promarkers. The image is layered with a smaller cut out of the original flower. I then used my glue pen and added some brown flock which added some extra interest. The leaves are punched onto white card (martha stewart punch) that have been coloured with my marsh green promarker. The card itself was a right faff as I cut a rectangle aperture out of the front and weaved strips of white hammercard and stuck them to the front. I inked all the edges with tumbled glass distress ink for extra definition. Once the trellis effect was finished I weaved some paper cord (that I also coloured in with my marsh green promarker) around the trellis. Again, I secured the ends on the front edge as I then covered up this with a rectangle frame which covered up all the bits I didn't want on show. I know I could've used my craft knife and cut out a trellis design but I wanted it to look more natural and prefer the woven look.

The sentiment is another of my dad carboot buys for next to nothing! I attached the sentiment and added some stardust glitterglue. I added the leaves to the flowers before attaching the flowers to the front of the card. I attached a piece of piece of light blue washed paper to the inside as you can see it through the gaps. I would have put a verse on it had I been giving it to somebody myself but left it plain as it was a sample.

I will enter this card into the following challenges:-

Crafty pad - Spring
Sentimental sunday - Treasure memories
Make it monday - Anything goes
My partner in crafting crime - Layer it up
Anita be stampin - Anything goes
Flourishes - Flowers
Papertake weekly - Truly dimensional
Passion for promarkers - Make your own embellishments
Tuesday throwdown - Sparkle and bling
Creative card crew - Spring
Art impressions - Anything goes
Aud sentiments - Anything goes
Pals paper arts - Flowers
Paper romance - Paper flowers
Rainbow ladys - Springtime
Sassy studio - Spring
Stamping insanity - Flowers
Digis with attitude - Spring has sprung
Inspire me friday - Anything goes
Totally papercrafts - Springtime

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Windmill Craft Centre - 1st workshop today!!!

Hiya Everyone,

Today was my first workshop at the Windmill Craft Centre which is based at Marsh Mill in Thornton (check out their fab on-line shop!!!) I decided to do 2 spring themed cards - a standard square and an easel card based on the same set of papers. It went very well as I did a lot of preparation in advance which I think made it flow better. The workshop was 2 hours long and people were just finishing up with around 10 minutes spare so the timing was good. I think next time I will make 2 of each sample so one can be placed at opposite ends of the large table as the one card kept getting moved around which I think made it difficult for people to see what needed to go where although I did a handout sheet of instructions which they liked. I did a little prize draw at the end which went down well too.

If any of you ladies that attended are reading this - I hope you all enjoyed it and I'll hopefully see you next time.

My next one is Saturday 21st May so I just need to decide what I am going to do!!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Joanna Sheen samples - Pressed flowers 4

Hiya Everyone,

This is another of the samples I made for the launch of the new pressed flowers stamps available from Joanna Sheen.

There were 2 ivy stamps that I decided to use as I thought it would be a bit different. I stamped them, coloured them in with my promarkers and cut them out. I made a different design of card type to as this fitted what effort I was hoping for. The sentiment I thought was great for this as it's the main feature of the card with the ivy being used as embellishment. The font I used is called schoon which is a fab vintage handwriting style. I used an olivey green light washed paper which I inked the edges of with crushed olive distress ink. A little bit of leaf embossed gold mirror card and there really isn't much to it. I attached the ivy along the upper left corner to the bottom right corner, firstly with DST then added a few with foam pads for the impression of depth. It's different to what I normally do but it was the kind of effect I was aiming for.

I will enter this into the following challenges:-

CES - Monochromatic
One stop craft - Monochromatic
Papertake weekly - Truly dimensional
Anita be stampin - Anything goes
Stars and stamps - Layers (no glitter)
Aud sentiments - Anything goes
Dutch dare - Fancy folds

Paula. x

Joanna Sheen samples - Pressed flowers 3

Hiya Everyone,

This is another of my Joanna Sheen samples that I have made with the new pressed flowers stamps. This is from the rose set (there is also daisy and narcissi). I decided though to colour the flowers in red to give them the impression of a poppy for a bit of a change and to show how versatile they are. They are £9.99 each set and are P&P free from Joanna Sheen.

I stamped the image out 3 times and cut the card into 3 squares so that the flower was roughly in the middle. I then coloured them in with poppy and cardinal red promarkers and a bit of grey for shading and in the centres. I then used a bit of glossy accents in the centres of the flowers, popped some clear seed beads on which I then went over with my black promarker when it was dry. I mounted these squares onto black card I cut a square of black and white spotty paper, inked the edges with my old black inkpad then mounted onto black card. I then attached all the bits to my card and I printed a sentiment off the computer – font is Harrington. I think the combination of the bright red with the black and white is very striking.

I will enter this into the following challenges:-

Some odd girl - CAS
Fairy tale challenge - Happy birthday
Fashionista friday - Spring
2 sisters - Spring
Stamp, scrap and doodle - CAS
Make it monday - Anything goes
Anita b stampin - Anything goes
Flourishes - Flowers
Tip top tuesday - Spring has sprung
Amber's crafts and stuff - Favourite things (my promarkers)
Creative card crew - Spring
DZ doodles - Black, white and one other colour
The paper variety - Flowers
Your next stamp - Texture (seed beads and glossy accents)

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x