Saturday 30 April 2011

Another little dinosaur to two

Hello again, and sorry for the delay in posting the card I promised you the other day - I've been sat feeling sorry for myself really with my footsie.. but I feel better today as it's feeling slightly better. I can now put it to the floor without it hurting too much, and even walk about relatively normal!!

Anyway.. enough about me and the foot, and onto the card.

As you know from my previous post further down the blog, the challenge over at the Passion for Promarkers blog was to create a prehistoric theme card.

This is my second card for the challenge - I wasn't totally happy with the first one with Zippy Dinosaur, so this one is much more appealing to me.

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Aren't these just soooo sweet? I bought the digi image (Shock.. horror! I don't DO digi's!) from the Pink Cat Studio and I was spoilt for choice. I did buy some hallowe'eny stuff from there last year too.. must be becoming a regular now, surely?! Personally, I still don't like Digi images, but they are useful sometimes.. definately quicker than waiting for a stamp to arrive I guess.

And I liked colouring the Dino's so much, I did exactly the same, more or less, for these too, as I had printed out a full page of them. They were printed out on Whisper White cardstock, as I prefer to use this with my promarkers.

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I'm not quite sure what has happened with the colour of the pictures, they look a bit blue to me.. the ribbon is Whisper White Satin ribbon, so should be white.. obviously not blue!

Anyway. Here's a closer look at the dino pair.

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Just sweet.. and perfect for a child's birthday. All colours for the PM's available on request if you need them.

Right.. must get on with things.... and when I say things, I mean things that are in my new Kit from Docrafts.. lots of lovely lovely stuff in there, so looking forward to opening it up and having a play.

Whatever you're upto this Bank Holiday weekend, make it a happy one. xxx

Friday 29 April 2011

Congratulations Wills and Kate!

Oh what a lovely day today.. just in case you happened to miss it (!), it was the Royal Wedding.

We sat and watched it from around half past eight this morning right through until it went off air. And what a lovely day it was too. I was really happy to know my Sis, Lesley, in Canada was sat watching it at exactly the same time as me too.

I'm really pleased to have watched Wills get married - I sat, like many others, and watched Charles and Diana get married all those years ago, and watched when he made his first appearance outside the hospital. Not that it seems like long ago at all!

Doesn't Michael look like one proud father - and the minute he said that she looks wonderful.. how lovely!


And wow... look at the wedding cake. Isn't it magnificent? So much work went into that and apparantly it was decorated to take on parts of the State room it was displayed in.... and twelve individual cakes made up the bottom layer!


Well. Don't they just look so happy?


The uniform and the dress - just wonderful and so perfect!


What can you say?? The beginning of married life for such a lovely couple.

Thursday 28 April 2011

Land Before Time

Oh I love this film... I really took to little Ducky, she was so cute. So, the theme over at the Passion for Promarkers Challenge blog this week, Prehistoric, was just perfect for me to doodle my way to a dinosaur landscape! The other great thing about it is the fact that it fits in with the I Love Promarkers challenge to create your own background (No paper allowed!)

I do have another card to show you that I made yesterday but I'll upload that one tomorrow.

This is my doodly card.

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I started by doodling the dinosaurs, they took ages to get right, and I'm still not too happy with little Dino, I think he looks a bit like Zippy from Rainbow! Haha.

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Still, I think they're okay as I'm a bit out of touch with my doodles and sketching as I haven't done any for quite a while. But the funniest thing was that I wasn't totally happy with my rainbow (I was talking about that on Tuesday at Craft Class!) and actually, now it's in place on the card, it doesn't look too bad. I've layered it behind a piece of card that I cut an aperture in.

I don't know if you can tell too well, but I added a bit of texture onto my dinosaurs with the blender pen - perfect for this type of effect.

I will probably be sat making cards, taking it easy and uploading lots over the next week or so, as I have torn the ligaments in the bottom of my foot after my 'incident' yesterday and have been told by the hospital to take it easy and keep off my foot for the next 6 to 8 weeks.. yeah right!! My solution?? Well. The computer chair is acting as a wheely chair at the moment and crawling round on all fours is working fantastic!

Whatever you're upto, enjoy it! Tomorrow I'll be sat in front of the TV watching Will's and Kate's Royal Wedding. Such pomp and ceremony and I love it!

See ya soon!

Wednesday 27 April 2011

Little lovely furry things...

Just a quick post for tonight, but I wanted to post a few photos - after all, that's what a blog is for right? lol.

The photos are of the little furbabies, taken the other day. I actually went out to take some photos of the birds, and nearly got wiped out by Scooby as he noticed I was going outside with my camera! Boy.. he likes the camera.

Anyway, here are a couple of shots I got.

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Bless his little mush... he's such a cheeky boy. His teeth are a little worse for wear, mainly because he was obviously allowed to chew stones when he was with his 'other' family. It is a bad habit that nearly two years later, are still trying to get him to stop doing - mainly so he doesn't wear down his poor teeth any more than they are. Still a little stunner though.

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Awww... mummy's little munchkin. Holly's been really lovely today, and this evening has not really left my side as I had a slight 'incident' in the woods whilst on our walk - needless to say it took me about 15 minutes to walk the last few yards to the car and I am now sat in agony with my foot in the air! She is such an affectionate little love, and loves nothing more than sitting for hours having her belly tickled! I wanted to share this photo because it's not that often you can get such a good photo of her.

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Does this classify as furry? Well, I think so. Loving the bokeh on this photo too - nearly as much as I love this little weed.

There's something quite lovely about dandelion clocks, it must come back to my younger years.

Right.. must dash... well, not exactly dash (as that would be a physical impossibility this evening!!!)

Will be back tomorrow with a card or two.

Whoop!

I've just been doing my comment moderations and blog surfing as usual, and I've just discovered that I've got Top Five in the Promarker Challenge again for my White on White Fizzy Moon card (further down).


Now... is it just me, or do other people not have much confidence in their cardmaking? I always think I can do better... but then again, if I was ever totally happy with my cards and what I make, then I would probably not enjoy it so much.

What about you?

Monday 25 April 2011

FAO Barbara

LOL.. not sure who you are as I can't get your link up on Google.. but I take it you're from around here? Thanks for the comment on my photo post.

Anyway, the Bluebell Wood is behind Shaw Wood school - you can access it from the little lane that continues past the School.

The other question, copics or promarkers? Well.. it depends on what I'm using at the time. If I'm using copics, I love them, and if I'm using promarkers, I love them.. so not really got a preference. Also, it would depend on what type of effect I'm wanting. softer and more blended colours are easier for me to achieve with the copics, and more solid colouring suits me better with the promarkers.

All my comments are moderated, so if you want to drop me a line, I can get in touch with you to meet up and bring my pens with me for you to try?

Love n hugs.
Jo x

Sunday 24 April 2011

Feeling Wuff

This little image has been coloured for a while now, and I didn't really know what to do with it. But the theme over at I Love Promarkers is an 'Anything Goes' this week so I thought I'd finish it off and enter it.

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Perfectly timed, I also discovered a new Challenge blog the other day - 4 Crafty Chicks - and the sketch was so nice I just had to play along.

Here's the sketch -

And here's my little woofer..

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He does remind me of Scooby. That waggy tail and that daft expression. lol. The wording is from a Doodlebug set of rub on alphas that I've had for a while.. thankfully I had enough lettering for it.

Right.. must dash and go walk the woofers.

I hope you have all had a lovely Easter Day, and been good and not eaten too much chocolate.

xxx

Saturday 23 April 2011

My Crafty space

I thought I would just show you a sneaky peek into my craft space. I have recently moved into the house, after working in my craft shed for however many years, and I am just more or less getting it sorted. Also because I keep promising to show people where I 'work' and never get around to it.. so are you ready?? You've got a cuppa and a biccy??

Well.. where to start? I'll begin with where I sit.

PhotobucketOn the windowsill you can see paintbrushes, as I like to do a little bit of oil painting now and again. My labeller is there too, for my SU stamps and general labelling purposes.. a cup my daughter bought me for Mum's Day, and a clock from my other daughter from a few years ago.

On my desk are some drawers that hold my embossing tools, cutting and pokey tools, aqua painters and other bits, and also some general things that are also always out on the desk. There is also my laptop, my filofax and my phone - all very very important things!!

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On this one above, you can see the storage that I have under the desk. The one nearest the chair with the thin drawers in has Commission items in, so any projects that need working on are in there. The other drawer set has punches in both drawers. The white drawers on the right of the chair hold my SU papers, card blanks and general stuff in the bottom drawer. You can also see some plastic drawers on top, and that holds SU punches, MS punches, promarkers and copics. Lastly, my filing cabinet and printer etc.

Now this picture..

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Well, firstly, what can I say?

I love stamping... so this is many years worth of stamps.

Wooden stamps would always have to remain my favourites, although as you can probably see, I have quite alot of acrylics.

The brown storage bag on the plastic drawers is full of things that have no home (yet!.. remember I'm still sorting!) and that plastic drawer set holds some general bits and bobs that I don't use too often.

You can also see my Big Shot sat on a box of card, and a tub full of satin flowers.

Bottom left is the doggies duvet, as they need somewhere comfy to lie when I'm working.

There is a little brown and white doggie sat on my desk in a tub (sort of in the centre).. and that was Holly's little Doggywog.. she had him when she was tiny, and it just sits on the desk as Scooby would just chew it up. lol 

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I don't know if you can see it well enough on this photo above, how I store my stamps.

I managed to purchase some grid wall racking and hooks from a shop that was closing, and my wooden stamps are hung by a U shaped nail thing (!) and the acrylics hung as they are with the euro slots.

There's not much organisation to my stamps, although I know where ones are if I needed them. However, my acrylics are sorted by brand and type. 




On these shelves, you can see my ribbon storage (better photo below), my shower rail that holds shower curtain rings that hold odds and sods of stuff, and also more of my stamps that I haven't hung yet.

On the bottom shelf are some of my SU stamps and a mixture of others.

Top shelf is just random stamps, my Forever Friend wooden stamps, and a box full of stamps I no longer want but can't bear to throw away!

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Now, this is my ribbon storage solution. I bought the two hanger slot things that attach to my wall, from the shop that was closing.

I then bought some metal dowel rods and threaded my ribbons onto it.. most of it is now colour coordinated, but some still need sorting.

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Now, back to the side of my desk for a sec - this is near the door to my room.

On the white cupboard, I have boxes in the top to hold pens/pencils/odds and sods, next one down is now jewellery stuff and beads, then under that I have my SU cardstock and a lovely fluffy pencil case from my friend Nikki.

Under that holds my (or should I say some of?) my nesties, embossing folders and dies.

And under that are my bags for my demo's and workshops.

You can see the plastic storage drawers a little better here and on top of it is my display hanger. 

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 And what's a room if you don't have nic-nacs?

As you can see I've got photos of the things that are important to me, and hearts - a room has to have a heart or two. It's the law!

The wires still want sorting out a little - but we're getting there slow but sure. After all, it's only been about 3 months since I moved in. Haha.

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Built in Wardrobe... and behind it holds drawers.... lots of drawers .... all 24 of them!
Which in turn hold paper, peel offs and most possibly more stamps! This also holds lots of other things that I don't tend to use too often, like plastic scrapbooking pages, print outs of different things and bits and bobs.

In between the two sets of drawers (there is another one on the other side) you can see the plastic boxes.. these hold parchment inks and pens, demo bits and pieces and embossing powders that don't fit on the shelves below.

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This is behind the door, and was a fireplace - it's now full of paper, scrapbook albums and the top has shelves that hold... well... everything else embellishment wise.

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The top shelf holds tubs for everything I don't use too often. The second shelf down holds my chalks, some tubs of smaller stamps, and bits and pieces. Third shelf is brads, papers (A5) and colouring mediums. Fourth shelf is for papers and Bind It All wires. The next one down is for stamping - so inks, powders, etc. The next one is mainly sizzix dies etc.. but has some other bits at the right side. The bottom shelf holds another box of embossing folders, die cutting bits and pieces, my SU inks, glues, and then on the right there are cups that are special to me (doesn't everyone have special cups??) that hold pens, pencils and other bits I need to put in a cup.

The little yellow book on the bottom shelf is "My Dog thinks He's Human!" and is such a funny, good read!







So.. there you have it.. my crafty place. Do you have your own space? Leave me a comment and I'll nip over to be nosy and leave you a comment.

Big gormless smile .....

Awwww..... this is what Sharon said about my little boy on this image.. how cruel! Although, I can't give you a full description of what she said but the title sorta gives it away. Haha. It was quite funny though.

Anyway.. here's my little man that I sat and coloured the other evening, and to say the light was awful, I'm surprised just how he turned out. The idea of this card was that 'anything goes' which is the challenge over on the I Love Promarkers Challenge blog, and also the TTT Challenge blog.

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I have used promarkers for colouring the image, and can supply colours if needed.

Here's a little close up of that smile.

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I don't think he looks gormless at all... I just think he looks happy.


And a little tip or two for you. 

I often get asked when I'm demonstrating, how I manage to find the right colours to fit the image I've just coloured. Well.. the simple answer is to colour the image to match the papers you want to use. I knew with this image that I wanted a nice bright male card, so i chose the papers I liked and picked out the colours for the image - brown for the hair, orange shades for the boys clothes and the layering etc.  Simple! But the trick is to remember to do it that way - and often I do forget! lol.

The other tip I have was for colouring the cat. I wanted a ginger tabby with stripes, but when you use the white gel pen, it can often create really harsh lines. So, when you add your highlights with the pen, just tap it with the end of your finger to lift some of the ink. Voila. A slightly more blended colour.


And actually, I think his smile is soooo lovely! What do you think?

Thursday 21 April 2011

All in white

Sometimes it's good to keep things really simple, and the Challenge this week over at Passion for Promarkers was White on White.. so I thought I'd play along.

Here's my card -

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I decided to use two different embossing folders for the top and bottom, then layered these up onto another piece of white card.

And here's a close up of the main image. I can't believe how much of a difference of colour there is with Whisper White from stampin' Up and a standard card blank... I think it should be called whisper creamy white!! haha.

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Isn't this little bear cute? It's one of the newish ones from Fizzy Moon. He's coloured with Promarkers and I added some glaze to give him a bit of sparkle on his nose and his belly button. I also added some in the wine glasses and bubbles.

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Here are a few details for you.

Well, I hope you liked todays card. I did. And I think I'll do some more White on White cards very soon I'm sure.

Wednesday 20 April 2011

a post full of photos..

It's been a while since I managed to upload some new photos of the furbabies, so I took advantage of the good weather that we've been having and treated the camera to a bit of fresh air. It was then a challenge to try and upload them onto this new computer to edit them. Still, I managed it and here they are. So grab a cuppa cos it's a looooooong post!

This lovely lilac is in our garden.

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The colour of the lilac is beautiful against the clear blue sky, and it smells so lovely! I can't believe that when we first moved into the house I thought it was a weed and spent many years cutting it down! Well... you live and learn I guess.

And look what lurks in the undergrowth - a furbaby!

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This one is Mr Scoobs.. our gentle giant. He's such a beautiful boy, and he loves his photo taken. When he sees you with a camera, he sits and smiles.. lol... then shuffles until he's in the right position. Such a wonderful boy and I honestly can't understand why someone didn't want him, but at least it gave us the opportunity to love him more!

Awwwwww... my lickle Lollyflop..

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No. Lollyflop isn't her real name. She is actually Princess Holly of Tashasti.. or Holly for short! But she does get called Lollypops, lollyflop, Hollywolly.. lol. And yes, she answers to all. But alas, she doesn't like her photo taken, but she is a bit of a stunner if you can get her attention with a dandelion clock (which is what I did!!!)

No photos of little Truly today - she was too busy rooting around for any stray birds and beetles!

So this afternoon as it was still lovely and sunny, we took a walk upto a different woods to where we usually go - this one is fondly known as Bluebell Woods.. and it is!

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This is just a small portion of the woods in one direction, but there are tons and tons of bluebells up there and it looks beautiful.

Aren't they just lovely?

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And as Scooby tends to jump around when you point a camera, it suprises me that this little lady was still wondering about!

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And lastly, I just had to share this little photo with you.

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Now... when the woofers are playing with balls or pine cones (a definate favourite!), if you throw them and Holly gets to them first, she sits on them and refuses to let Scooby have one. At this point she is often called Grotbags, and Scoob has to just sit there waiting for us to get his ball as he won't take it off her, whilst she sits there looking around to make sure he's not near! So funny ...

So there you have it - a day in the life of the furbabies.. and a camera that doesn't come out too often! lol.

Hope you enjoyed it. I'm back tomorrow with a little card for you, so check back soon!

xxx

Choccie-tastic

Eeeee by gum.... Easter is on it's way quicker than a flash !!! It doesn't seem like two minutes since school broke up and I had the pleasure of my daughter's company for a couple of weeks.. and she is on her final countdown to return! But not before the Easter Bunny comes along, lol.

Today, I want to share some Easter cards that I have made. I don't usually send Easter cards, but I do want to post a few this time, so thought I'd whizz up a quick batch. And funnily enough, it ties in with the new Challenge over at Simply Stampin'... how good is that??

Anyways.. without further ado - here is my little contribution.

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They are all basically the same, using a theme of yellows, greens and pinks. The little birdy is so cute with the flower in its beak.

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The bird came from the Fun and Fast notes set - a brilliant purchase from SU. And although the stamp I used isn't actually an Easter stamp, I added an Easter greeting and coloured it so it was.

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This is the close up of the little chick - I've even given it some blushed cheeks (well.... how can you resist, eh?!)

Happy Crafting if you're able to manage it... I sincerely hope so!

Tuesday 19 April 2011

I love my bunnies...

These little guys are so cute aren't they?

I have quite a collection of the little Messy Rabbits, but they rarely come out to be inked up... only today was a bit of an exception. I decided that this morning, after working all week, I was going to have a morning just for me. And I wanted to get playing along with the Promarker Challenge blog and get colouring. I'd missed the deadline for one of the challenges, but for THIS one, there was a lovely sketch to follow. I missed the deadline for the Passion for Promarkers blog, where you needed to make your own embellishments.. **sigh** never mind, I still love the card.

Anyway... here was my take on it.

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This bunny looks like she's in a bit of a cafuffle with something.. a bit like my friend Sharon was this morning.. haha. So funny - hope you're sorted now Shaz.

Here's a close up -

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Isn't the expression on that cute face just adorable? I think more of my Messy Rabbits may just break out of the hutch more often!

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This is the embellishment I made. I used up some odd bits of cream pearls and red seed beads - I even added a swarovski crystal to the charms too. I think they look really nice against the lovely lovely new seam binding ribbon from SU. I tied the ribbon in a knot, then gathered up the ends in a technique we covered in class last week.

I then finished the card off by adding some little gems instead of a sentiment. I hope you like it!

Monday 18 April 2011

What a week.....

I just don't know where time is going lately!

This week I had lots of work to do (proper work... paid work!) and hopefully some time this coming week I'll be recieving my Docrafts kit for May/June, so will need to get cracking on samples.

However. To fill you in, this week I've had some magasine commissions to complete which have now been posted (and I am absolutely chuffed to bits with how they looked - totally not like my usual style, but still lovely!) and also had a jewellery demo to prep for for last Saturday.

I was down in Leicester for the day with a few other ladies for the Gadsby's Event.. there was me doing jewellery, Elaine (a fellow Docrafts demo) making cards, a lady called Alison doing whatever she was doing, and this wonderful lady called Bonnie, who is one of the nicest people you could ever ever wish to meet.


She was there doing a Polymer Clay demonstration... and my oh my... I've never seen anything like her work in all my life!!

Her work is absolutely exquisite... and I was blessed to have been given a Jar of Hope and a pendant. I will treasure these!

I will find the link to her site and share... honestly, you'll be amazed!

Friday 15 April 2011

One layer again..

Well... after my boo boo last week (!) on the Less is More challenge card, I thought I would try again.. so quickly this morning, before I start my day's work, I thought I'd make this -


Sorry about the quality of the photograph.. it was taken on my mobile.

Anyway. The card is using the new lush embossing folder from Stampin' Up, and I embossed a nesties to have somewhere for the sentiment to go. Finished off with a few diamantes, and I'm quite pleased with how it looks.

Hope you like it too... right.. must dash... quilling and jewellery to get done!

Happy Friday everyone!

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Just Testing

 

Well.. after four long weeks, the saga of the laptop is – hopefully – finally over.

So.. just testing this blog writing thing that came on my computer!

LOL.. Have a good morning until I next post.

Perfick!

What a great start to the day.

Last night was really good at class, and I thought today things would just become a mundane sort of day. lol. However, imagine my surprise when I was looking through the Challenge Blogs this morning and found out I had got a top three and a top five award with my cards for the Promarker Challenge blogs!! If you click on the 'challenges' label on my side bar, you will find the links to the blogs there.

I have done as I was told, and placed them very proudly on my sidebar!

But here they are just in case you miss them.. lol.



Don't they look lovely?

Well... after sharing that exciting news, I must get on with my work - this week is just going so fast! And I need to be making some jewellery for my jewellery demo at Gadsby's in Leicester this Saturday, and also some work I can't share at all for the Creativity magasine.

Right.. I'm off.. have a great day whatever you're upto.. (And Tracy... get back to work!! lol)
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