Today I am mostly feeling........honoured and a little excited!

Good Morning!

Well today, as my title suggests, I am feeling pretty good!  (The title makes more sense if you've ever seen the Fast Show!)  I was contacted by Christine at Practical Scrappers and she asked if I would mind two of my cards being featured on her website - would I mind?!  Erm...no!  I had to read it a few times to make sure I hadn't just made it up! 

I know it may seem a little ridiculous to get so excited about it, but I have always made cards for family and friends and just because I like doing it.  Family and friends always tell you how lovely they are etc. (well, most of them anyway - some are maybe a little TOO honest sometimes!) and they do this because they love you.  Random strangers don't have this incentive to be nice and I never for one moment thought that anyone would be particularly interested in my little spot of creativity.

I cannot tell you how glad I am that I was wrong!  Woohoo!  I'm still so overwhelmed by how NICE everyone in this little (well, actually quite large!) creative blogging community are!  (and I really do feel like it's a community that spans the continents)  I can't get over it!  In any other walk of life, if you are competing against people, the likely chances of them encouraging and complimenting you are slim to none, right?!  I love that everyone has something nice to say AND that they feel the need to say it!  So this is another thank you to anyone and everyone who has read my little blog so far and left me a wonderfully nice comment, or even if you haven't left a comment and you've just thought it - thank you.  It's much appreciated :)  I hope you continue to do so and that I don't disappoint anyone!

Ok, so that's my little essay over! 

I have been linked on Practical Scrappers TWICE in the last week and I am feeling pretty humbled by that :)  Thank you to Christine for 'finding' me and feeling I was good enough to join the other talented artists that are featured on the site :)

Here are the links, if anyone's interested.  You should really check out the other girls talents on there if nothing else :)

Fabulous Finds Friday: July 22nd - I'm a fabulous find! :)
Frugal Finds: Popsicle Sticks

As always, thanks for stopping by and have a great day :)

I still have a lot to learn about this blogging malarky...!!

I didn't realise that I needed to create a separate post for each entry...now I do!  Please bear with me on this learning curve!!
Here is my second CAS-ual Fridays entry for this week.....


                                                           

 

Like I said, (in the previous post!) a little out of the box thinking went on here! I was thinking about lollies, ice lollies and I ended up at lolly sticks. From my degree days I had a bag of lolly sticks (they were for model making - I didn't do a degree in confectionary!) and I thought they would look really nice if I stained them with ink and lined them up in rainbow order, of course!

As the lolly sticks did all the work, I didn't want to detract from them too much so I added a small sentiment (another handwritten one - I had my inks and nibs out anyway :)) in the bottom corner and a little frame around them and let them be in the limelight :)

Thanks for sticking with me :)

 

Supplies

Card:      White and Black 220gsm

Stamps:  None

Inks:       Colorbox Classic Pigment Ink Cat's Eye Queue - Scarlet, Orange, Canary, Lime, Heliotrope

                VersaColor - Cyan, Indigo, Charcoal

                Windsor & Newton Calligraphy Ink, Black

Others:   Rhinestones

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge 11 - Sweet Treats

EDITED: To remove second entry and creat new post

I'm back!

The challenge at CAS-ual Fridays this week is Sweets & Treats:

I have made two cards for this challenge - one of which is a logical outcome given the challenge topic, the other one is me thinking outside of the box a little.  I blame it on my degree days!  I quite like taking an idea and going in a less obvious direction with it, but that's just me!

For my first entry:

I couldn't resist a little bit of Calligraphy on this one :)  (I have gotten lazy with it lately - stamping sentiments is sooooo much quicker!  Sometimes you just don't have the right one though)  This font style is called 'Valentine's Day' (book: Calligraphy Alphabets Made Easy by Margaret Shepherd - it is a bible for any Calligrapher!) I thought it was very fitting given the little love hearts on the letters - it's almost sweeter than the sweets!

The sweets are two circles of cardstock covered in tissue paper and then a twisted piece of corresponding tissue placed between them with some dimensional adhesive.

Now.....are you ready for the next one?  Check my next post!

Well, I hope you like it.  If you do, or you don't, then I'd love to know :) 

Thanks for stopping by and thank you again if you read all my ramblings!

Supplies
Card:       White 220gsm
Stamps:  None
Ink:          Windsor & Newton Calligraphy Ink, Black
Others:   Tissue paper, rhinestones, Rotring 0.5 drawing pen

CASE Study Challenge #48

Good Evening,

The card to be CASE'd for this weeks' CASE Study challenge is by Dawn Woleslagle and it is beautiful!



I wish I could've done it the justice it deserves, here is my interpretation.....

These colours are an attempt to encourage the English summer to arrive, and hopefully stick around for longer than a few days at a time - that would be nice!

I blended Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey and Antique Linen Distress Inks to create the background and then ran it through my Cuttlebug.  The sentiment tag was created using one of Tim Holtz's techniques (the one on the craft mat) using Antique Linen and Vintage Photo inks.  I used much less water though because I wanted a different effect.

Thank you for dropping by, please feel free to leave a comment if the fancy so takes you :)

 

Supplies

Card:       White 220gsm

Stamps:  Stampin Up! Just Believe set

Ink:          Distress Ink - Antique Linen, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo

Other:     Twine, textured paper, rhinestones, Swiss Dots ef

Play Date Cafe Challenge #90 and Thank You's!

Hello!

Before I do anything else I just want to say a MASSIVE thank you to those who have taken the time to visit my little blog and for the absolutely wonderful comments!  You should've seen how excited I was when I received my first comment - it was a little ridiculous, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who reacted that way to their first comment!  (well, I hope not anyway!) 

Right, now on to my next post.  I am going to join in with the Play Date Cafe's challenge this week.  The colours are Eggplant...Fuschia...Orangesicle. 

In this mood board those colours look beautiful together...on my desk, not so much!  Now, for me to put any kind of orange with purple is totally out of my comfort zone - please bear that in mind when you see my card!  I actually made this card on Thursday when the challenge was posted but I have had some serious technical issues, the main problem being my browser wouldn't let me get onto the Play Date Cafe blog!  Sorted now, phew!  Only took all weekend.... :)  but hey, got there in the end!


Ok, here's my card:

..and a little close up...

...and a little side view... :)

I'm hoping that my flower is 'orangesicle' enough to qualify?  It looks much more vibrant in real life - I guess I haven't quite got the photography thing down yet.  It's a work in progress :)

The flower started life as white card but I blended Heliotrope pigment ink from Colorbox and Wild Honey Distress ink.  The middle petal layer has slightly purple tips and I scrunched it up for a bit of texture, although I don't think that shows up very well in the photographs - sorry!  Maybe if you zoom right in and squint?! 

I clear embossed the stamped frame for a little added interest.

Please let me know what you think - honesty is always the best policy!

Thank you for joining me here and I hope you enjoyed it :)

Supplies

Card:      White and Black 220gsm

Stamps: Stampin Up! Just Believe set

Ink:         VersaColor Violet Pigment Ink, Colorbox Classic Pigement Cat's Eyes Queue - Heliotrope,

                Wild Honey Distress Ink 

Others:   Present ribbon, rhinestones, split pin (brad)

My First Post and CAS-ual Fridays Challenge CFC10

Hello!

To point out the obvious, this is my first post!  I thought I'd throw myself in at the deep end and make my first post a challenge entry - aargh!

I have been following the CAS-ual Fridays challenge since it began but have never submitted anything before.  The challenge at CAS-ual Fridays this week is 'Shaped Cards' and here is the card I have made.....

The main shape and the concentric shapes are all hand cut, as are the butterflies.  I inked the edges of the layers with Distress Inks and blended the colours on the butterflies.  I used VersaColor charcoal coloured ink and then clear embossed the flourishes on the butterflies and then ran the largest one through my Cuttlebug using Divine Swirls ef.  I added the same charcoal colour to the edges of the butterflies and mat of the sentiment panel.

It's a day of firsts today - first post, first challenge entry and the first ever shaped card I've made.  I did say I was throwing myself in at the deep end!  Wish me luck!

I am going to have a play with my camera to figure out how best to take photographs of my cards, apologies for the photo's above :)

Thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read this, please let me know what you think (honestly, don't just feel the need to say something nice!) and any tips for making a successful blog would be greatly appreciated! :)









Supplies
Card:     White 220gsm
Stamps: SU! Just Believe (sentiment)  Penny Black Scroll Strip 3863H (large butterfly flourishes)
              Magnolia Wedding - Fancy Squiggle Flourish (small butterfly flourishes)
Ink:        VersaColor Charcoal, Distress Inks - Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Broken China, Victorian Velvet
Others:  Cuttlebug Divine Swirls ef, Papermania clear embossing powder, rhinestones, jewellery wire