My craft room!!!

Just so you all know I'm due to give birth in 2 weeks so I have spent the last 2 months tidying and sorting through my craft room so it's finally in a fit state to show all of you lovely people. The only cards I have made recently have been the 4 cards I have made for the Joanna Sheen design team which I have recently joined down to my Cardmaker of the Year win which I am really chuffed with. My first job was to make 2 cards from decoupage sheets and 2 cards from a rubber stamp set. These are all brand new and will be released soon so I was very privileged to be one of the first to try them out. I have just received my Joanna Sheen 2nd prize which was a whopping £150 gift voucher to spend in the online shop on ANYTHING I wanted!!! I have just spent it (and extra) on oodles of fab goodies including lots of lovely house mouse stamps which I adore!!! I am feeling well so I'm hoping to start my blog challenges again. I am also looking forward to receiving my Cricut Expression which I ordered last week - so exciting!!! I'm hoping it arrives before the baby so I can have a good play!

Thanks for looking!!!!!!

Paula. x

OMG - I've won Cardmaker of the Year 2010 !!!

Hiya everyone!

I just wanted to let you all know that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth but I stopped making cards due to tiredness in April due to pregnancy and only started making cards again when I found out that the Cardmaker of the Year competition was back by Cardmaking and papercraft magazine which was around July. I pushed myself to enter as I really wanted to do better than last year (I came 2nd in Craftime Creative Flatbacks and 3rd in Fiskars categories) I had a few months till the deadline of 14th September so for 2 months all I made was cards for the competition so I've done no blog challenges or any customer orders or anything. Well, it all paid off as I got a phone call on Wednesday from Lucy at Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine that I was the winner of the Cardmaker of the Year competition 2010. Apparently, I came 1st in Pink Petticoat and La Pashe categories and 2nd in Cosmo Cricket and Joanna Sheen categories. I've won £700 in prizes altogether. I am soooooo surprised I won especially as I haven't been up to much this year although I did spend a lot of time and effort on my entries. If any of you are interested the magazine will be out on 23rd November.

My baby is due on 6th December so I have a lot a great things to look forward to in the next couple of months. I wouldn't have done any of this without the help, love and support of my wonderful husband Shane - so big, big hugs and kisses for you!

Thanks for listening!!!

Paula. x

Distressed Memories!!!

Hiya everyone!

This is my first play with my new Tim Holtz distress inks! I couldn't decide which to buy so I bought all 36!!! (Naughty me Lol)
I saw a few challenges for vintage/distress/memories so I came up with this.

Image of lady from vintage belle CD - I distressed the image then used a few layers of clear embossing powder on it, scrunched it so it cracked then used a bit more ink
Papers and ornate frame from Summer Driggs wonderful stuff
Inks used:- Vintage photo, tea dye and walmut stain
Prima flowers, buttons and brads from stash
Sentiment done on computer - fonts used are century gothic and Susie's hand

I'm entering it into these challenges:-

Secret crafter - distressing
Sentimental Sundays - flowers and a sentiment
Cuttlebug spot - embossing and flowers
Kaboodle Doodle - embossing
Practical scrappers - Buttons
Sisterhood of scrap - flowers
Crazy challenge - buttons/brads/eyelets
Shabby tea room - Comforts of home (photo inspiration)
Flourish - Vintage
Papertake weekly - Something different
A spoonful of sugar - 3D something (frame)
Tuesday taggers - Memories


Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

1st card for weeks!!!

Hiya Everyone!

After a break of several weeks this is the 2nd card I have made for a friend. Apologies for not getting any blogging done but I have had a major clear out of crafty and non-crafty stuff which took up a lot of my time. I made over £200 so I treated myself to 18 stickles glitter glues, the 56 set promarkers (which completes my collection) and all 36 Tim Holtz distress inks. I have still to use my inks although I have filled in the colour chart. I also went a bit mad in ikea on crafty storage so I'm almost happy with craft room although I'm still waiting for my hubby to make me a shelf with cubby holes type thing. Hopefully, I will venture back into blogland soon and start entering the challenges again.

Tatty teddy image from somewhere I don't remember
Papers from pink petticoat
Silver Card, ribbon, diamantes from stash
Stickles glitter glue on flower (cotton candy)
"30" hand cut - I really need a cricut Lol!
Sentiment done on computer - font is clear typewriter

Thanks for looking!

Paula. x

R.I.P. Guillotine!!!

Yesterday, my rather temperamental guillotine decided to die on me :o( I've had it just over a year but I've worn a big groove in the blade so it was sticking when I was cutting, especially on paper. Alas, this story has a happy ending. I knew I wanted another guillotine type rather than a slide trimmer as I prefer them. I asked a few crafty people on the docrafts website for advice on what I should buy as a replacement and was told by all of them to get a x-cut. After a bit of looking on the net I found the pink maxi x-cut guillotine at crafty devils on sale for £24.99 instead of £34.99 so I bagged a bargain. To get free P+P I also bought 3 of the new x-cut border punches which are (only) £3.99 each. I'm really mad with myself for having to buy this as I've already spent a fortune on crafty stuff this month but I feel lost without my trusty cutter! I do not want to delve back into the dark ages with a craft knife and a cutting board! Even my hubby said "well, we'll have to get you another one won't we!" - Yay!
Am off today so I'm going to tidy up my craft room as it looks like a bomb's hit it - literally! I'd love to take pictures of my fabulous space but at the moment it's a deathtrap wading through plastic boxes of stuff. I need to be ruthless and get rid of stuff I know I won't use but I find it really difficult as I am a terrible hoarder (which I blame my parents for! Lol)

Thanks for listening!

Paula. x

Boys birthday card!!!

I have made this card as I noticed a few male card challenges and a few green card challenges so I thought I'd combine them!

Manga boy stamp coloured in with promarkers
Papers from Summer Driggs "courage" set - torn and distressed with inks
Pocket paper pierced with faux stitching
Textured green card from DCWV
Courage text and sentiment done on computer - font is 1942 report
Leather cord, button and eyelets from stash

The challenges I'm entering into are:-

The pink elephant - green
Pollycraft - distressing
Gingersnap creations - celebrate
Cute card thursday - green
S2G challenges - green
Belli - Eyelets
Sew many challenges - Let's hear it for the boys
Allsorts challenge - Just for men
Crazy for challenges - Paper piercing
Double dutch - Boys only
Creative card crew - celebration
Stamp, scrap and doodle saturday - open challenge
Inky impressions - green
Prairie fairy fridays - green
Crafty catz challenge - shades of grren
Crazy challenge - show me anything!
Lots to do challenge - distressing
Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Mother's day card!!!

I made this Mother's day card for a friend of a friend.

Forever friends image
Papers from funky fairy
Blue and white textured card from DCWV
Mum letters cut from sizzix alphabet "azure" set
Flowers cut from x-cut punch then embossed with dwiss dots cuttlebug embossing folder. Flower centres are card candy coloured yellow with promarkers. Edges of flowers shaded with pink pearl chalks to match daisies on main image
Leaves cut from x-cut border punch
Scalloped edge done with MS border punch
Flower charm from quixotic
Pearls, diamantes, ribbon ans bows from stash
Tag done on computer - font is swing set

I entering into these challenges:-

Cupcake craft - round and round (circle of pearls)
Flourishes timeless tuesday challenge - Scallops (scalloped edge)
Creative craft challenges - Thanks a bunch!
Quixotic paperie - Leave it out (leaves on bottom flower)
Crafty creations - one colour
Cooking it up with Katie - decoupage and metal (charm)
Belli challenge - Eyelets (there is one on the tag!)
Gingersnap creations - celebrate
C.r.a.f.t thursday - Mother's day/flowers
Pixie dust - 3D creation
Bee crafty - embossing (flowers embossed with swiss dots!)
Creative card crew - celebration
Papertake weekly - Button, bow, brads and bling
Lexis creations - anything goes
Magical crafts - something for mum
Pile it on - One colour and one neutral

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x