Songbird

Anyone who knows me at all will know that I am a massive fan of Fleetwood Mac. If you don't know that you've obviously never spoken to me for more than a minute.

So last night I made two projects using Songbird as my inspiration. It's one of my favourite songs by them and should a miracle happen and I get married it will be my first dance.

I have used the Notably Ornate stamp set, which has a beautiful bird and an amazing vintage frame (as well as two others!).



Project one is a pendant. I stamped the image on to Very Vanilla card and stuck it to the clear charm with Crystal Effects. The little round tag is a piece of the Newsprint DSP and I decorated the chain with some buttons and my favourite ribbon.



And here's project two - a card. I used Versamark to stamp the frame, which creates a tone-on-tone effect.



The bird was embossed on to Newsprint DSP and inked up with the brayer. I added some Grungeboard, also inked up. I'm not convinced the little frame works quite right - my handwriting could be better! I would really love a typewriter, that would be perfect for this type of thing. Would anyone like to buy me one?!

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A cheeky scrapbook page

I've been scrapping a few old photos recently, and although this one is a bit embarassing, and rude, I think it's awesome so I decided to share!

No idea what's going on here, but it obviously amused my parents!



Sweet ass! I went a bit 70s (even though I'm not that old!) with the funky patterned paper.



The chipboard letters are the very fun Stampin' Up! On Board Alphabet Soup, which I coloured using the Sponge Daubers with Chocolate Chip and More Mustard, and I remembered the Fleurettes - crochet flowers - that are perfect!



I've just got a Crop-A-Dile so I had to have some eyelets somewhere! And my fave embellishment - buttons with Linen Thread.

So yeah, that's my butt!

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ILWS Sale-A-Bration Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to my turn in the In Love With Stamping Sale-A-Bration Blog Hop!
There are four rounds altogether; I am part of number two so you may have arrived from the lovely Krafty Biker page. Links to the next blog in this loop and the start of each round are at the end of my post so do take time to look at the many wonderful creations using this year's Sale-A-Bration stamp sets from Stampin' Up!

Don't forget, these sets can only be earned until the end of February and then they are gone! You get them FREE by spending £45 or hosting a workshop with product sales of £300 or more. Just get in touch to place your order or arrange your home party.

I have two cards to share, both using the beautiful Bliss set in different ways.

On the first I have gone for the faux tile look, which I posted about a few days ago.



It is quite sraightforward but involves a bit of time and patience!



First, I created the whole tile image by stamping the beautiful motif in Crumb Cake and Basic Gray on to Very Vanilla cardstock. I used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to line them up correctly.



Then I cut this up into squares, distressed the edges a bit with the Cutter Kit and covered each one with Crysal Effects. This dries to a clear laquer, making them look like ceramic tiles. I left them overnight to be absolutely sure I wouldn't smudge them!



Then I stuck on to Crumb Cake cardstock to act as the grout and finished off with some Twill Tape, stamped with the bird image from the set, and a Neutrals Button tied on with Linen Thread.



And now for the second card. This was inspired by my SU grandma Monica and I used my favourite colour - purple!



I adore this card so expect to see some variations in future!

I started by attaching a piece of Rich Razzleberry Striped Grosgrain Ribbon and a piece of the stunning Lap of Luxury DSP to the card blank.

Then I cut four squares of Crumb Cake cardstock and randomly stamped the motif in Crumb Cake and Basic Gray. The squares were then sanded at the edges, crumpled and inked up using the amazing Distressing Kit, which I am loving as vintage is soooo my thing at the moment! On one square I also stamped the Bliss and bird images in Rich Razzleberry.



The flowers and butterfly from the set were stamped in Rich Razzleberry on Very Vanilla cardstock and cut out, which was nowhere near as fiddly as it sounds! I stuck them on with Dimensionals for added effect.



As you can see I used lots of pearls all over as they are just soooooo pretty!



So there you go, two very different cards using the same FREE stamp set.

The next stop on round two of the blog hop is at Rachel's page, so go see what she has come up with!

And here are the starting points of each:
Round one: Sara
Round two: Theresa
Round three: Keren
Round four: Kirsteen

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Gift tag page

This is another of the mini scrapbook pages I was playing around with a few weeks ago. I love making gift tags, thay're my new favourite thing!
This is the awesome Marina Mist card and uses the gorgeous Bella Toile MASSIVE background stamp on the Basic Grey card. I punched the bottom, added a sentiment from Tiny Tags on the Scallop Square Punch and decorated with ribbons and buttons and brads.
I think the blue and grey is such a classy combination and am really pleased with how this turned out.

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More from the card tin

Here is the first peek at what is inside the tins I decorated yesterday.
The calendar journal was really quick and easy to make - just 12 pieces of card with the month stamped using the Just Perfect Alphabet and all sorts of stamps used to decorate at the bottom. I also wheeled with the Sanded Jumbo Wheel in Crumb Cake to give some texture. With a ring to hold them together and a bit of ribbon it's done! Just need to write all the special dates on each card now.
And the first little card I put inside the tin uses the gorgeous Just Believe set. Again, I stamped tone-on-tone with Crumb Cake and added some colour with the sentiment, which is Marina Mist card and Night of Navy Ink with one of the Neutrals Buttons.
This afternoon I'm off for another of the Free Festive Workshops in Armley with the I Love West Leeds peeps, then we have Buns & Roses choir practice tonight.

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Remember the date sets

Well this evening I have been very busy and made some bits that I am incredibly pleased with. And I'm still in bed before 10pm! Win!


I bought these tins from Wilkinsons. Inside were 15 little cards and envelopes (which are now heading for the recyling bin, of course!).
Instead, I made my own selection of cards as well as a calendar mini-journal for making note of important dates and anniversaries. So there's no excuse to forget or fail to send a card - it's all written down and the cards are ready and waiting!
I will post pics of the innards over the next few days.
The top tin I am keeping and the second one is one of my items for the Craft Swaparama in Leeds this Sunday. I hope the recipient likes it!
They're my new favourite thing and I'm going back to Wilko's tomorrow to buy as many as I can so everyone will be getting them as presents!

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More Christmas cards - it's coming fast!

Just over a month to go until Christmas! These two cards were ones we did at Chapel Pie WI a couple of weeks ago. Dasher is my fave Christmas stamp, but I love the Contempo Christmas with the tree as well. The Dasher card also uses the So Swirly Jumbo Wheel, which is incredibly versatile.
Don't forget that the Christmas bundles are still available to help you with your cards and wrapping. Details over there >>>
Hopefully I only have a few more Christmas cards to make. Then I have many presents to do ...

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Just Believe Convention card

This card I made at Convention. In our bags we got two free stamp sets - this one is Just Believe and the other one was Party This Way. What a fab present!
I had to tackle some new things doing this card. The image is stamped on to Watercolour Paper, which was then spritzed with a bit of water to make it bleed slightly so it looks like a painting. I also used the Spritzer tool to spray on some dots of ink and give a vintage look.
I love this design so much I did it with my class the other week. They loved it too!

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Convention gift swaps

Here are the items I made for a gift swap at Convention earlier this month.
I used some Twill Tape to make little brooches. I stamped the cotton tape with the So Swirly Jumbo Wheel and folded it over at the ends. I then added a folded piece of 3mm Taffeta Ribbon and fastened on a couple of Neutrals Buttons with Linen Thread.
The backing cards they were presented on used the beautiful Newsprint DSP and Broadsheet Alphabet.
I kept one for myself, which I wear all the time, and gave one to Shelli Gardner, the co-founder of Stampin' Up!
I love being able to use the SU products for things other than cards - it is all so versatile and you just need a bit of imagination!

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A quick modification

A final quickie post before I go to bed!
My lovely SU sister Jill got me this collapsible storage box from Ikea. It's an ideal size for swaps (yes, already thinking about next year's Convention!) but didn't have a carry handle. So I added them by stitching on some Striped Grosgrain Ribbon and decorating with some Neutrals Buttons attached with Linen Thread.
Bodd helped by sitting in the box while I stitched it, and we both got poked several times with the needle, but overall, it was a successful project!

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A Newsprint notebook

Here is one of my creations from yesterday - a covered SU art journal.
I have used my favourite Stampin' Up! goodies - Newsprint DSP, the Broadsheet Alphabet stamps and Striped Grosgrain and Taffeta Ribbon.
The colours are Very Vanilla and Basic Black. I added on some flowers made using the Boho blossoms Punch, some Neutrals Brads, a couple of Neutrals Buttons and one of the beautiful Pearls.
I'm so pleased with this, but I have no idea what to use it for!

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Newsprint bookmarks

Now Convention is over I can show you some of the swaps and gifts I made for people. Well, I have actually posted a couple already without saying cos I loved them too much!
I made these bookmarks for an organised 3D swap, and also did one for mummy Julie, my roomie Joy and the lovely Vicky Hayes, whose blog never fails to inspire me. And I sent one to my mum as well!
They were really easy but fun to make as there are several elements but nothing too complicated. The base is a piece of textured River Rock card and Newsprint DSP on a mat of Basic Black Card. The bottom was shaped with the Eyelet Border Punch. At the top, I had wheeled the Music Notes on to a piece of Twill Tape and threaded it through a punched hole several times. Then, stamped the recipient's initial using Broadsheet Alphabet, cut out and layered on. I added a bit of 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon and a Neutrals Button with Linen Thread.
I kept one for myself so now I just have to find time to read!

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Tales of interest

I had some good crafty time yesterday and decided to make some little sample pages. I had started out with the intention of doing a bit of scrapbooking, but as I have no photos it was a bit tricky. So instead I am creating a notebook of ideas and samples and bits and bobs.
This is the first piece for it, using the beautiful Newsprint DSP and Broadsheet Alphabet. The butterfly is All A Flutter, which comes on its own so is great if you're just starting out. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

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Mad busy

The fun never stops round here!
Today I have had lots of work on, and not the bits I had planned to do, so still loads more to plough through! Luckily I managed to fit in a bit of crafting as well as Hayley, who is the Buns & Roses WI treasurer, came round to play.
She made some gift tags and I did my bag tags for Convention.


I used some little wooden tags and stuck on my name using the Broadsheet Alphabet stamped on to Very Vanilla card and layered on Basic Black, both torn to give a vintage effect. The background paper is Newsprint DSP. I totally adore these new Stampin' Up! products, they're right up my street. I added a bit of 3mm Taffeta Ribbon and attached on a button with Linen Thread.
I'm now going to tidy up the living room as it is a complete mess! Have bought a Welsh dresser off eBay to help organise my stuff better - can't wait to have a proper place for everything!

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