Its been a while....

With a rather hectic year my craft room has been quite neglected so I am hoping to bring some more paper inspired crafty tips over the coming weeks and months.
I have now revamped my craftroom so it is not a chaotic mess (although not sure how long this will last!). Since I last posted I took part in my first craft show which went well although I think a bit more preparation is in order before I take a stall again although I am looking locally at some Christmas stall sales so will keep you updated as it would be good to hear regarding other crafters experience of selling their crafts and cards.
Since I last posted I have even taken up knitting which is something I wasnt expecting to ever enjoy but I have been knitting away at Twiddlemuffs for Alzheimer and Dementia patients and I have thoroughly enjoyed it, although my cupboards are now getting full of wool instead of paper craft products.
I will post up a couple of pictures of the Twiddlemuffs as they are a great way of getting back into knitting plus are a lovely project to help those suffering from Dementia and/or Alzheimers.

Good to be back and happy crafting!


Nicola x

Purple Tree

I have had this charming stamp for a while and had not decided how I was going to use it but this card seemed to make itself in many ways. I started with the stamp itself and used a real pastel selection of colours to add to the birds, flowers and leaves.
Once I had finished the tree I simply mounted it onto a deep purple border trimmed with a lilac palette patterned paper. I also stamped a thank you stamp on the bottom square. Unfortunately I did not realise that this stamp was slightly wonky which didn't really show until I finished putting this together - at least I will learn next time to use lining up the stamp more. We all learn by our mistakes!!

I finished the whole card off with some liquid pearls. This simple card (whilst a bit wonky) was really enjoyable to make - now I just have to figure out what to do with the bottom panel to make it balanced again.


Update: Problem solved........

Country Cottage

There is something about the chocolate box image of a country cottage and I loved stamping this image and playing with various elements to give an almost picture postcard effect to this card.

One main point to raise is that with such a large stamp that once you have stamped with the black ink leave it as long as possible before you start to add the colour. This will prevent any sluggish looking areas on key areas.

Once I had stamped and coloured in this image I stamped out the foxgloves and the swallow and careful cut round the edges before working out where I wanted to add them to the card.

I had a bit of a hiccup with the edges on this card so I found some printed antique strips that worked their wonders in hiding the odd wonky edge!

After adding the strips I then added the foxglove and swallow by using sticky foam pads. This meant they just stood apart slightly from the card itself.

My Dad has the typical country garden and I know he will love this card for Fathers Day later this year so I will be saving this one for him.

Enjoy your crafting today

N x

Easter Bunny

There is something very Easter like with this stamp and I decided that this bunny would be a great start to creating my Easter cards for family this year.

I first chose my colour palettes by rummaging through some of my odds and ends card stock and then pairing these papers with my pens. 

I decided I really wanted a violet purple and green card but used the fuschia pink to give it some highlights. I also used this pink colour on some of the flowers on the bunny, its nose and the patch.

I had a great time colouring the stamp in. I was toying with the idea of using a purple ink for the initial stamp but I decided to keep with the black ink. I used the same ink for stamping out the flowers.

I am not sure what the name of this stamp is (which is a shame as I love the set that it came with and wonder whether they created any additional elements). I will be adding some more cards using the stamps from the same pack over the week.

I hope if nothing else, this card gives you a smile and I hope your Easter projects are going well.

Happy Crafting

N x

Spring Bird House

With the clocks jumping forward an hour I am reminded that it won't be long now till summer (fingers crossed). Whilst I hate what feels like loosing an hour I am looking forward to the benefit of lighter evenings as this means more craft time!

I have been really bitten by the Spring/Summer bug and the following set of cards this week will bring a bit of light regardless of the weather.

I was treated to a full set of Spectrum Noir pens this weekend by my other half - I think he got fed up with me tutting about not having a full set of pens. So now I am playing with colour and neglecting all housework.

The above card was quite a simple make. The little bird house I stamped out in black ink - try to get an ink pad that you can use for fine detail. Once that was stamped I left it for a while to dry before colouring in with my new pens.

I then mounted the bird house stamp on some Mambi paper that I had. I chose spring green to compliment the colours I wanted to use.

The flowers I stamped out using the same black ink pad. Once they were dry I coloured them in using complimenting colours. Similarly I stamped out leaves but used Pearlescent Ivy - Dew Drop. 

Before I added all the elements to the card I used a little ivy stamp and stamped some really small leaves in the same Ivy ink. I coloured these in with the same green pens that I used for the larger leaves. Once all was dry I simply added the main central element and then placed around the edges the leaves and flowers.

Hope you like the finished effect and enjoy the extra daylight hours!

N x

Spring Floral Bouquet

This card used green accents and although the picture does not do it justice the backing paper included panels of bright sparkly squares. Unfortunately the light in my craft room didn't let me show off the full finished effect but I hope you get the idea!

The sprigs of foliage and flowers were created using the Clearly Besotted range die and stamp set. I chose colours that worked with the background and gave a spring effect.

The green polka dot strips were edged with a burnt copper ink (again this did not come out very clear on the picture above) and then a simple ribbon strip with buttons fixed with my glue gun.

This card really did not take much time to make at all and the fiddliest part was the cutting out and stamping of each of the foliage and flower elements.

Happy crafting

N x

Spring Green Birthday Card

I loved making this simple spring green inspired card. All it took was some embossed white card edged with green chalk, a few stamps which I coloured with my Spectrum Noir pents and a coupleof stamps of solid coloured flowers. The main stamped image was gently coloured in and backed on a contrast darker green squared and finished off with a polka dot strip of paper in greens, pastel yellows and blues. The flower centres of the larger flowers were just finished off with a glitter glue blob to add some sparkle.

I don't normally go for green but with Spring round the corner I decided to try out some green inspired cards to suit the season.

This is another really easy one to make but hope you like the effect.