Oh bubbles

This so represents my crafting journey. A friend showed me a picture of her 'go to' card when short for time. It represents anything from birthday to thank you and much more. The stamp captivated me. It's simplicity and charm was so lovely I just knew I had to have one. And that is what my crafting journey has been like. If I see it, I like it, I have to have it. I need it. How many of us crafters have felt that 'need'.
Of late I've tried to stop myself from doing that and keeping to my style but flowers are my passion and this was so different that I tootled off to the internet and bought a couple.

I purchased the stamps from The Stamp Hut (another great on-line craft store) and the Card Candi you can get from most craft retailers. I had mine in my stash for a while, and I've been lucky enough to live close to the Craftwork Cards Garforth factory shop.

These stamps are both by Woodware and are their bubbles range. Bubble Bloom 'Felicity' includes the sentiment 'a little something just for you'; and Mini Bubble Blooms - Annie includes the sentiment Sparkle on your birthday.

I have copied the stamp but not my friend's card and hope you like it.
I'm in love with bubbles! It is so quick to make I can see why she uses it to run them up when she needs something quickly.

Woodware - Bubble Bloom 'Felicity'

Woodware - Mini Bubble Blooms - Annie

It may not be my 'go to' card but it will certainly get some usage in the weeks to come. Different colours, card candi, gems, coloured inks or a bit of Zentangle and one stamp can look so different.

Hope you like them as much as I do.
Thank you for stopping by
Whilst searching for the link for Craftwork Cards I read the unfortunate news that they have gone into voluntary liquidation last month. So sad after 30 years. So important to support our local businesses. I do wish them well.

Something different

My best friend Luciele, who by the way introduced to me to this crazy world of card making, and myself decided to add another string to our bow with some 3D creativity. A trip to IKEA and several box frames later and we had the frames and all that was left was the imagination.
A week later and Luce (my name for her, amongst others!!!) has completed all her boxes and I've done a magnificent One. These things take some consideration you know.

Anyway this was quite fun and a pleasant diversion from card making, though and something tells me we've not quite seen the last of this little venture. 😉
Welcome to my little one, from two angles of course! I used an image and sentiment from the Stampin' Up! stamp set Beautiful You.

And of course not to mention the numerous ones created by my bestie.

You may recognise this image from my Decoupage card. Now you know where I got it from.

 A little westie dog in pyramage

 I do like this sentiment and it displays so well too. Love how she's added little flowers around it.

 And this is a narrower frame but still a box frame and here we have that lovely sentiment again.

 And finally another one of Luce's lovely sentiments. You may remember I borrowed these earlier and went on to make some cards with some of them. Hmm, they may just make their way into one of these lovely frames.

I had fun making mine and I'm looking forward to making some more. I know Luce enjoyed making hers since she went back for more 😊With a craft fair in November in time for Christmas you never know, this time next year we'll be millionaires!!!

Hope you like them as much as we liked making them.
Thank you for stopping by.

Decoupage

I have seen some beautiful decoupage cards over the years although it was not something that I particularly excelled at.

Then my friend gave me a decoupage sheet of a beautiful cameo of a lady in a hat. It was so pretty I just had to give it a go.
Scissors in hand I started to snip. I made a few mistakes but when layered together I felt you couldn't tell.
I decided to keep with the monochrome effect.

I trimmed it up with some little pearl beads and thought I'd put one to reflect an earring.
I was really pleased with the end result. I have made others since as in my grandson's Rock On card but I always look at this and think 'how lovely'.

Hope you like it as much as I do.

Thank you for stopping by

Die Cutting Essentials 36

I love to browse the craft magazines in the supermarket. If something catches my eye I just can't resist buying it.

My latest purchase was Die Cutting Essentials issue 36. The freebie, and who doesn't love one of those? is a selection of dies called Underwater Friends.

The goldfish bowl die is a pretty decent size and so I immediately thought shaker card and threw it in my shopping trolley.
And why don't those things ever go where you want them to? You'd think they'd have a streamlined model by now wouldn't you? Anyway, shaker card.

Took a few attempts and it didn't quite go as planned but I'm still pretty chuffed with how it turned out.

My latest learning curve was the use of wax paper to build your shaker foam. Thanks to Sam at Mixed Up Crafts for that, it makes it so much easier.
Interestingly Sam uses the dust from her dust buddy to brush around the inside edges of the foam to prevent shaker contents from sticking.
TOP TIP I have found talcum powder works just as well too. Ooo my first top tip 😊. Here's hoping it's not my last.

I die cut all my pieces out first. Most of my sequins are purple, courtesy of a work colleague with a purple passion. I do have a few silver ones though and thought that would break up the colour and also reflect moving water. That's what I thought anyway, before they went walkabout!!

I think the card's colouring is appealing to young children. My husband liked it anyway so I'll say no more about that 😉

I do hope you like the finished product.
Thanks for stopping by.
Karen

Joy of still working

Hi again
One of the joys of still having to go to work, (OK the only joy!) albeit for three days a week is that I am a member of a work craft club. We have knitters, crocheters, quilters, card makers and umpteen new skills being shared on a regular basis.

One of the ladies recently raised £1000 for the Yorkshire air ambulance through her sale of cards to friends and colleagues. What a magnificent achievement. Together we raise funds  every September for McMillan through the sale of cards, tea bag pouches alongside the obligatory cake and recently for the Haven breast cancer charity.

These are a fabulous group of very talented ladies and I am very proud to be a part of them.

Recently I held a class, with another member, for new card makers, making cards for a dog charity. This particular charity is very dear to our treasurer and she supports it throughout the year.

Here are just a handful of these cards, before they go on sale, just to show how terrific these ladies are. This was enormous fun and I am so looking forward to the next one which will be shaped cards.

My photography skills are not so good but aren't they lovely? And especially for new ladies learning what to do.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you call back again as I'm bound to share some more of our crafty antics.

Verse Cards

Having stamped all those verses earlier, I couldn't wait to craft up a storm with them.

Into the first craft mix I added my new love, the Stampin' Up! Flower Shop stamps and Pansy punch. They are so pretty and versatile. So glad I managed to get them before they left for good.

I kept this simple and liked it. It shows off the flowers AND the verse.

For the next I used the last of some Stampin' Up! DSP from a kit I had. Very pretty but also busy so didn't need much else on it.

I used another verse on the inside using the same DSP.

Can't wait to use more of these verses. They were a joy to use and in a quick clear out I also found I have several pretty cool ones of my own!!!

Hope you like them and thank you for stopping by.

Stamping Verses

I spent some time with my best friend the other day and she was showing me some amazing verse stamps she has accumulated in her collection. Although she has been crafting for many years she has only recently got into stamping and has used them to make some amazing centrepieces to her cards. As she is away this weekend celebrating her birthday with her husband I have been trusted with them. Yeah. So guess who's been having a play.

I thought I would make up several stamped verses and then consider how I would use them later.

I've stamped quite a few and die cut or punched them out ready to use on a card or project.

Some are simply inked and some are heat embossed. I am loving my new cocoa coloured embossing powder and I have just the card in mind for it. Doesn't show up very well in the picture.

I'm quite pleased with them. I've certainly stamped more than I need. I thought I could stamp several out now and store them for later use to avoid borrowing the stamps again. Not how I usually craft my cards but needs must as they say.

Some are inspiring me to make a certain type of card and some haven't quite hit the spot yet. But, as my dear late mum would have said "They're not eating anything" and indeed they are not, so I shall return to these at a later date.

Meanwhile I am off to craft up a storm with a few of them.

Thanks for stopping by