Butterfly Flutterby......

Good Morning to you all, hope all is well. Not a lot to report here, I'm off work this week as its half term for the boys but I have nothing planned other than some relaxation and crafting!

The card I have today is for a special friend and I've done something new that I've cased from a lovely, very talented lady Amanda from inspiringinkin.  She is one of the best Stampin Up demonstrators around and I've known her for many years now.

The die I've used was a freebie from a magazine and how I've done the glittery wings is what I've cased from Amanda.

I used brushos to create the coloured butterflies and then die cut them.  Although you can't really see it, on the kraft card they are splatters of pearlescent splashes.

So, the wings are very super easy...... After cutting out the butterflies, stick some good old fashioned sellotape (or clear tape) to the back and cut around the die and then just sprinkle with glitter, really pushing it into the tape with your finger.

Looks fabulous!!!!!

I then heat embossed the sentiment onto vellum and stuck it behind one of the butterflies.  The nice thing about this card is that it will lie completely flat for posting but it looks very dimensional.

Love it!!!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by, take care and I'll try and pop back later in the week. I'm having major computer issues at the moment so who knows!!!

Clair xx

Thank you...

Another wet evening here but thankfully tonight I was in the warm and dry unlike last night when I was stood in a field cheering on my husband, youngest son and nephew while they all did a sponsored run.  They all did brilliantly given the wet, slippery conditions.

My husband came 22nd out of 288 runners and my son came 78th out of 414, very proud of them both.

So, other than birthday cards, I make more thank you cards than any other.  I saw a picture on the docrafts website of a watercolour effect and wanted to try and recreate it (in my way!!)

Again, apologies that its upside down....I will get the hang of this one day!

So, I really liked the watercoloured thanks but I really wasn't sure about the corners and the pearls.  I kept looking and looking at the card and wasn't happy so decided to try again.

Now, this one I liked!!!

I stamped the sentiment ( fron Stampin Up!) and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I then used Brushos as paint for the watercolouring.  The difference with this card is that I splattered it with the watered down Brushos and for some reason, I was much happier.

This card is for a friend of ours who has been helping my youngest son with a bit of extra tuition and will stop next week for the summer.  We are very grateful for her time and effort.

I learned with this not to settle, if I'm not happy with something I need to try again...I'm sure its something I tell my kids frequently but obviously need to remind myself sometimes.

Thanks for stopping by, take care.

Clair x

Birthday Boy!

Today is my husbands birthday but he hates birthdays, not because he's afraid of getting old or anything, he just hates the fuss, he complained about the banner I put up and he complained about his presents!...no pleasing some people!!!

His card is THE most simple card! Notice the lack of a happy birthday sentiment...

I used my Brushos for the red wash and used a freebie die for the 'love'.  It originally said 'with love' but I cut off the 'with'.  I heat embossed the 'love' 3 or 4 times with clear embossing powder, stamped the word 'you' and added a punched heart that I glittered.

A close up of the sentiment.

We are off out tonight with some family to also help celebrate my father in laws 80th birthday that was earlier in the week.

Looking forward to a good evening with great people!!

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Clair x

 

Box Set Binge

WOW....WOW....WOW!!!!!  I am  very slow starter to the TV show Greys Anatomy and I have just finished watching series 5 and I'm surprised I can write this because of very swollen eyes from all the crying......What a tear jerker! (I cry at most things!)

Anyway, I have made quite a few cards today, I have a lot of birthdays in May but I'll share one that was made for my sons friend, a very simple card but very effective.

And I even managed to figure out how to rotate the picture this time....I'm getting good at this technical stuff!!

So, the card, I heat embossed the distressed dot stamp from Stampin Up with gold embossing powder and added a strip of calypso coral card stock down one side.  I die cut a heart from vellum and coloured it slightly with a sponge dauber.  The sentiment was a freebie from a magazine and I heat embossed it three times with gold embossing powder to match the dots.  I then just added a smaller heart die cut from the calypso coral cardstock.

Here's a close up of the sentiment.  I've actually done this to some sentiments on a few cards just lately, think it looks pretty good.

My eldest is out on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition tonight, camping in the middle of a field somewhere after walking 20k with his kit strapped to his back so I'm hoping I can actually get some sleep tonight, along with crying at everything, I also worry quite a bit!!!! 

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Clair x

May Day

Hi there

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend especially as there was an extra day off!!! Gotta love a bank holiday...

We've had a pretty quiet one. My youngest went to a birthday sleepover so I'm expecting him to fall asleep any minute now, you know how little sleep occurs at these things....  They went to the park late last night (supervised I hasten to add!!) and had their own paint party, basically throwing powder paint at each other, looked like fun!  They were covered!!
My husband, my eldest and I went to a farm shop this morning and enjoyed a wander and slice of cake and a cuppa!!

So, for todays card.....
It was for my friends son who is an 'in between' age so it couldn't be childish but not too grown up either.
I used just one stamp from a set from called Collage Curios from Stampin Up.

One thing I can't figure out now is how to rotate this picture.... honestly, I am hopeless - so not technical, so apologies but you get the gist of the card.  I stamp the circle in  number of colours, added the dots from a hero arts stamp set then die cut the 'happy' from the stamped piece.

 I then die cut the 'happy' 3 more times from black card stock and stacked them onto one another so they popped up....
I hope you can see that....

close up of the popped up happy!

I added a couple of punched stars and that's it!!!
A great card for the men in your life without being too grown up or with the obligatory cars, ships etc!!!!

I am having trouble with my laptop tonight and this post has taken about an hour to write so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.

Have a great week, take care and thanks for stopping by.

Clair xx

Normal Service Resumes.....

Hi there

So, finally the room is complete and I have craft supplies readily on hand so I'm a very happy lady.  My husband worked tirelessly last week to complete it and I'm really happy with it even if its a little cramped.....

I will show pictures later but basically the desk and shelving are a little too big (my tape measure must be wrong!!) for what I wanted so I've had to play about with the placement and I'll have to see how it works but overall I'm very content.....

For todays make......

This is a card I made a few months back for my friends teenage daughter... I've even included how messy I can sometimes be in the picture, that's nice of me!!!

I have used all Stampin Up products in this card and rather than colour in the flowers 'properly' I've dapped a make up sponge in the ink and dabbed over the them.  It looks a bit watercolour like without the hassle of getting any paints etc out.

Hopefully now things are back to normal I will be able to post a couple of times a week so until next time, take care and thanks for stopping by.


Clair

A Sunny Saturday....

What a lovely day we're having here... I have to admit that I've been in all day though so I haven't enjoyed it to the max.
I was at work this morning...boo and then because my craft room is a building site I popped to my mums to make a card for my brother in law.
It was really hard making a card there as I am not used to her set up, it took me hours!!

Anyway, I needed to get the card done as Tuesday is the special day of the birthday boy.  I really struggle with manly cards but quite happy with how this turned out.

Its really simple but sometimes they're the best!!!

I die cut the banner and heat embossed the whole thing with silver embossing powder but I did this 4 times to get the smooth metal effect.  I did want to emboss the greeting too but my mum didn't have any black embossing powder.  So, I die cut the Happy Birthday twice, one black, one white and off set them when I stuck them together.

I looped the silver thread behind the banner then stuck it on with foam tape.  I heat embossed the 'for you' in silver too.  When I got home I looked at it again and felt it really needed something else but couldn't decide what.
I had been looking at pinterest lately and seen many ways to use enamel dots so I dropped some nail varnish onto wax paper just to see if they looked ok when they dried.
Guess what??.... the result was pretty good.....

Overall, I happy with this and the nail varnish hack is pretty good and something I'll try again. 

The building work is coming on nicely so getting very excited about the next few weeks, getting organised and back into 'proper' crafting.

Also, my mum booked tickets for 42nd Street in London for next week so that's something lovely to look forward to.

Till next time, thanks for stopping by, take care.

Clair x

I'm Still Here....

So, I decided to start my blog again as explained in my last post.  It was probably the wrong time to start again as I have NO craft room/space and NO craft supplies to hand.  The room I used is currently completely empty and waiting patiently for our builder to arrive! (on Monday hopefully!)
We are having an extension and therefore my stuff is all packed up and my twitchy fingers are having to find something else to at the moment.....

The exciting thing is that that means a brand new shiny area for me to craft, a brand new desk area and brand new storage so hopefully my creativity will flow and flow.  I plan to enter challenges again and just play....

The down side to this is that I have nothing to share with you except for this particularly BAD picture of a birthday card for my FIL.

 It was my first attempt at the bokeh effect.  I used brushos on watercolour paper to get to coloured background then sponged white ink through die cut circles (I hope that makes sense!)

I die cut the word DAD and the small banner using a spare piece of the watercoloured paper and mounted that all onto a circle.

My children said they thought it was a bit girly for their Grandad but I sometimes think that male cards can be dull and boring so it was nice to use some colour.

So, I will keep you updated with the build so please bear with me....I am vey excited to get going!!!!

Thanks for stopping by, take care.

Clair

Hello Again

So, it's been ages!!!!!!!!  I've decided I might try and get my blog up and running again. I am no longer an independent Stampin Up demonstrator but that doesn't mean my love for crafting is any less.

I am trying my hand at a number of things now so hopefully they will be a variety of projects, cards etc for you to feast your eyes at..... I love looking at others work so I hope you enjoy my little blog again too!

I haven't got anything specific to show today but it won't be long, I promise.

Thanks for stopping by.
Take care

Clair xx