Just to show I haven't been completely idle...

Hello bloggers! I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone that has been leaving comments for me whilst I've been away, even though I couldn't visit or leave comments, it touched me that you'd still drop by, and kept me going while I was feeling so poorly. I'm still taking it easy, but glad to be colouring and crafting again. I am NOT glad to be suffering a messy work area once more, I did like having a nice clear dining table, he hee.

Anyway, following Chrissy's post recently where she was asking about what Kraft papers were light enough to go through a printer, I promised her I'd try my Kraft and tell her the results. Well, as I'd test-printed some images, I thought I'd at last get round to experiment with colouring on it. This was my first attempt, using the lovely Summer Dreams by Make It Crafty. I used Faber Castell Polychromos (I only have about 30 shades at the mo) without any blending with Sansodor, and I quite like my first go. I find some of the pencils nice and soft, some are very hard and scuffed the paper up on the hat ribbon. I might have a go with Prismas next, although I only have a handle of pencils. Hope you likey:

Here's a quick card I made using this image and some scraps of paper which happily matched the colours in the image. Not sure what I think of this one, but I'll definitely be colouring on Kraft again:

Will have a DT card to share in a few days....till then, happy crafting!

Can't leave comments

Hi everyone, I've been trying since last night to leave comments on your blogs, but I haven't been able to leave any. For some reason, Blogger freezes on me each time I click the comment button. I notice there have been some changes while I've been away so maybe it's a glitch with the software. Just wanted you to know that I'm not ignoring my blogging buddies, and I'll continue to visit to look at your work even if I can't leave some love.

There is sooooo much to catch up on, you've been VERY busy, lol.

Beat The Mid-Winter Blues

Hello everyone, and Happy New Year! I hope Christmas was good for you and that you're ready and raring to get crafting after the holidays. I've been doing a bit of gentle crafting myself and made this easel card for our challenge this month at Sundays With Crissy. The theme is Beat The Mid-Winter Blues, and it can be interpreted however you like - whether you want to make a summery card, a card in blues, or whatever the theme means to you. There's lots of inspiration throughout the month over on the main challenge blog.

As soon as I saw the theme I knew I wanted to use this image by Crissy - she's called Beach Baby Jayme and I just love her! So fabulous and she really makes me smile☺ She's coloured in Copics (the first time I've picked them up in weeks, it felt strange to be using them again), and I used the colourless blender to dab onto the green colouring to make her dappled froggy skin. The sentiment is by Digis With Attitude, although I don't know if it's available any longer, and I added some flowers and ribbon trims to finish it off. I hope you like it.

I'm getting round to visit everyone bit by bit, so I'll see you soon. Have a good weekend.

Happy Christmas

Hello all, it's that most special day, Christmas Eve, and so I'd simply like to wish you all a very happy Christmas. I've loved getting to know my fellow bloggers this year, it's been such a pleasure.

I'm still not up to doing any crafting, but I can feel the spark of interest growing again, so hopefully it won't be too much longer before I'm back.

Till then, all the best from me.

Anything Goes at Sundays With Crissy

Hello everyone, no I haven't emigrated and left blogging for good, I'm just having a break until the New Year to get a bit stronger. But this is a card I made recently for this month's challenge at Sundays With Crissy, the theme being everyone's favourite: Anything Goes. How easy is that?

This sweet image is one of Crissy's that is available from Wags N Whiskers, called Zoe & Gemma's Snow Fun - don't you think it's cute? Coloured in copics as usual, and the backing paper is actually the cover of a brochure I received in the post....I liked the design so much I thought it would come in handy for a Christmas card.

A couple of felt snowflakes, a punched snowflake, gem brad, navy gingham ribbon and stamped sentiment were added to complete the card.

Hope you like the card and feel like coming along and joining us at Sundays With Crissy this month.

More apologies for not visiting any blogs, I'm just not up to all the reading and commenting right now, but I hope to be back reinvigorated in the New Year.

Till then, happy crafting!

Leap of Joy....non-traditional colours

Hello everyone, I'm here with a couple of cards today, they form my DT project for this month at Sundays With Crissy. This time, we'd like to see a Christmas card in non-traditional colours, so any colour other than red or green. I've used a tiny bit of red and green in my colouring, but there wasn't really any other colour I can do berries and holly.

I chose to make a non-traditional blue, white & silver card and a pink, white & silver one, using Crissy's image Leap of Joy in both - being a digi I was able to print the gorgeous reindeer at 2 different sizes. Colouring was done with copics, and I over-coloured with pencils to modify the shades and also add a little texture to the reindeer, as the colouring was too smooth with just the copics. In both cases I cut the image out with a nestie shape using the 'outside the box' technique so that the hind feet overhang the nestie. 

The blue card measures 15x15cm and is made using a piece of very shiny foiled Kanban cardstock in blue and silver, to which I added a square doily and a wide strip of blue and silver Christmas ribbon. Although it looks as if the background is uncoloured, it's actually a pale blue. A white poinsettia made with Marianne dies and a foiled 'With Love' sentiment finish it off. 

Cardstock is really very shiny and reflective!

The pink card is a book-fold C6 size, and made using paper from the very first designer paper pack I ever bought (5 years ago and still going strong....it was a BIG Papermania pack!).  The ribbon is a nice shiny silver one, and I made another white poinsettia to embellish.  I finished it off with a Papermania sentiment, stamped in grey.


I bet those carefully shaped poinsettia petals will get flattened in the post!

I'd like to enter these 2 cards in these challenges:

2 Sisters Challenge - Ribbon

ABC DT Challenge - Christmas card challenge

Cardmakin Mamas - Cut it out (nestie shapes round the images, and poinsettia die cuts)

Crafty Ribbons - Bingo (punch/dies - flowers - ribbon)

Papertake Weekly - Anything goes

And I'd like to enter the blue card only in these challenges:

Crafty Purple Frog - Sparkle

Secret Crafter - Flowers ribbon lace

Truly Scrumptious - Bingo time (lace - flowers - ribbon)

I hope you like my cards. The SWC Design Team upload their projects every few days, so keep checking out the challenge blog to see more non-traditional Christmas colours. You have till the end of the month to enter and be in with a chance to win 5 of Crissy's images.

Happy crafting!

Beer mat gift box

No, not a gift box for beer mats, silly! A box MADE using a couple of cardboard beer coasters that were headed for the recycling bin. Unused ones, I hasten to add, he hee.

I wanted to make a gift box just big enough to hold a few chocolates to give a very special person, and this is what I came up with. There was a tune going round my head at the time, a Billy Joel song called You're My Home, and there's a nice line in it which goes "Home is just another word for you" which seemed very appropriate for the person I was thinking of, so it became a sentiment on the box lid.

The lid and base are made from 2 beer mats which I covered both sides with brown dogtooth-checked paper, sanded a little around the edges. I made a small box from cream card using a box-maker and adhered one beer mat to the top of the lid and the other to the bottom of the base.  This is what the beer mats looked like before they were repurposed:

To decorate, I first used a lacy doily on top of the paper-covered beer mat, then I took a square of paper and made a background by aging it around the edges, crinkling it up and running a distress ink pad over it to highlight the creases. Then I added an epoxy flower embellishment, some roses, a die-cut gingham heart and some pearls.

The ribbon wrapped around the box is a beautiful patterned white ribbon from my good blogging friend, Kevin.

Background is made from some pale pink backing paper which I aged and distressed a little, then I scrunched it up and wiped a distress ink pad over the flattened out paper to show up the creases.

I'm entering this is these challenges:
2 Sisters Challenge - Ribbon (round the sides of the box)
Bearly Mine - Anything but a card
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Lace it up
Cooking It Up With Katie - Anything but a card
Crafts & Me - Let the music move you
Crafty Cardmakers - pink, brown and cream
Crafty Emma's Store - Entertain us, song- or film-inspired
Lollipop Crafts - Anything goes
Secret Crafter - Flowers, ribbon, lace
Southern Girls - Can you hear the music?
Sugar Creek Hollow - Trash to Treasure vintage
Top Tip Tuesday - Make your own background
Truly Scrumptious - Bingo time (Gems-Flowers-Diecuts line, I used pearl gems, roses and a diecut heart)

Have a good weekend all.